


Up-Up and Away

by superhiki



Category: Let the Old Dreams Die, Låt den rätte komma in | Let the Right One In (2008), Vampire Chronicles - All Media Types, Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: Armand can't decide if he likes these two or wants to kill them painfully, Being cruel to children, Blood Drinking, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Family Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mind Games, Mortal Daniel, Spoilers for Let the Old Dreams Die, Underage Intoxication, drug usage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-04-06 08:49:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14053305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superhiki/pseuds/superhiki
Summary: Venice, 1982.The air above the Grand Canal grows electric as two breeds of blood drinkers meet. Rare enough as it is for any two of their kind to cross paths, Elias and Armand must come to terms with the other's existence and decide whether allowing it to continue won't be a mistake.Can what they have in common bridge the ocean between their immortal experiences? Will their treatment of mortal, and once mortal, companions lead to a clashing of principals that evokes Armand's darkest creeds? Will Daniel ever get his fucking Atari back now that these brats want to play with it all the time?





	1. A Quick Dip

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this so I could tool around with some of my favorite vampires meeting up. 
> 
> Eli/Elias' pronouns and gender are written with my own experiences in mind and, thus, vary. Elias' identity is vampire first. If you don't wish to see a very fluid approach to gender hit the back button. Or test the waters. Just know there will be a lot of perceptions but no hurt feelings. 
> 
> Similarly, the opinions of characters do not necessarily reflect my own. They will say stuff I don't believe or agree with. Armand will be down right hateful and mean sometimes. If that's not cool with you hit the back button.

The first night Armand sensed the other blood drinkers he had been out with Daniel, of course, but they had not been indoors and safe from being spotted without the public taking notice. Tonight he remained draped in the chair he was sat at, face compressed into a stark white palm as he watched past Daniel’s shoulder for any better taste of _them_ in the night.

 

“Boss? You concentrating?”

 

There were two, he was sure of that, and he could tell they were blood drinkers from their slow heart beats, but their aura was irregular. Base, literal. The sense he got watching large sharks out in the open ocean, happy to give a nibble on anything in front of their snouts, but hungry only for blood. There was nothing fanciful about them he sensed, but he could not fathom what that meant.

 

Nothing awesome, nothing embolden by spirits. They were _literal_ and he could not explain why. How did one express his gifts in the literal? If he were to believe their own myths he had every power granted by spirits. Something borrowed to be returned to another plane.

 

“Armand- We’re still walking to the museum, aren’t we? So let’s go already.”  
  
Daniel was leaning over the table now and yanking at Armand’s wrist, the one under his pillowed cheek. Where Armand’s palm could distort his own face and soften it like flesh, Daniel’s mortal fingernail thumped against his nose like it was a chunk of marble.

 

Sitting up Armand dropped several bills around Daniel’s mostly untouched coffee and when they went out he slung his arm about the mortal’s shoulder and they walked together in tandem towards the Ponte dell’Academia and the gallery on the southern side of the bridge. Dense fog made every lamp post an orb of light caught in the clouds. Daniel was trying to get Armand to sing along with something and walk in such a manner that their legs would cross over in front of one another, but his thoughts were on that presence.

 

It was more than dark and even though the walk was minutes away Armand felt the urge to shove Daniel in a taxi and promise to meet him there. Winter meant Venice was sleepier in the night and Armand’s plan of breaking into the Gallerie dell’Accademia and later the Guggenheim probably meant he was deserving of whatever run ins might occur- for who else would they run across but other troublemakers?

 

Them and the presence.

 

Being in Venice again wasn’t without its added stress. Daniel, picking up on this but not knowing why, had been especially agreeable and affectionate and participatory in the ways that seemed to please Armand most. Daniel quieted as they began over the open air bridge, not a drop of water or sparkle of stars visible through the fog, sighing as he looked upwards and leaned his head against his companion’s. Armand, eyes lost in the mist over the edge of the bridge, was trying to focus on the heartbeats he’d been hearing when they suddenly split apart and the steady thumps began to race around them in circles. Circles, somehow, over the earth and water without hesitation.

 

The irregular path implied the Cloud Gift, but with such infantile heartbeats he could not believe these were anything but young vampires. This impossibility raked through his mind with questioning, nervous claws and he was struck with the need to get off the bridge and out of the open air as soon as possible. Just as he grasped at Daniel to speedily tug him along one of the heartbeats shot towards him from over the river. Turning, Armand saw it bolt from out of the mist head first, rocketing towards him with its arms and legs tucked close to its child-like form. A pale face, dark hair blown back in the wind, approached with speed nearly to match Armand’s. Like a whip his mind went out to set it spiralling with a wordless command, but their minds were locked from one another.

 

The thread between Armand and other vampires did not exist between he and this being.

 

In a split second he knew this and tried a more literal attempt at capturing this thing, one white hand reaching out to snap around its ankle as the other held fast onto Daniel.

 

Crushing the joint beneath his hand as he yanked it back there was a sudden resistance from the small figure as two enormous webbed wings erupted from its sides to catch in the misty air. It must have had them tucked against its sides when it dove close, like a falcon crashing to earth, but now they were beating furiously in the air and trying to get away-

 

No.

 

It was trying to drag him away as the foot beneath his grip wasn’t a foot at all but a large birdlike claw, now wrapped about his own wrist. Letting go of Daniel, Armand pried at the long toes as he was dragged by his heels down the bridge.

 

“Armand!” followed by footfalls chased after him until he heard another swoosh through the air and turned to see another shoot out from the mist, claws extended like a bird of prey, to catch Daniel by his jacket and yank him over the bridge and into the mist.

 

Armand shrieked and heard the creature dragging him cry out in response, it’s wings crumpling as it tried to protect its ears from the piercing sound of Armand’s voice. It must have affected the other one as well as he heard two yelps and a splash from the East side of the bridge where Daniel had been taken. Having no choice but to be done with the winged thing, Armand felt the claw relax around his wrist and flung it towards the river, hoping its membrane-like wings would be too heavy to escape the water. He heard it’s splash moments later and quickly raced to the otherside of the pathway, jumping over the edge in time with listening for Daniel so as to land near him.

 

Daniel was paddling aimlessly through the fog, whimpering in shock, and managed only to gargle the Canal water when Armand appeared before him. Armand could sense he wasn’t injured, just scared, but getting out of the filthy Canal was an immediate necessity. If one of those claws punctured him the resulting infection from taking a dip would be disastrous- or at the very least would dampen their vacation away from Night Island.

 

After hoisting Daniel about his shoulders and beginning the trek back he neared the 2nd source of splashing and saw another child.

 

Pale arms flailed in the water at first, slapping at the surface as what appeared to be a bald head bobbed up and down between them. Upon closer inspection Armand saw it was a child with hair so blonde it nearly appeared translucent on it’s skull. This must have been the one that attacked Daniel. He had every urge to stamp on its head in the water until it swallowed enough to sink miserably down, living but lost in the dark, when he noticed its wings were missing.

 

And the other one, the dark haired one, was swimming closer.

 

Either he didn’t throw it far enough or those wings were great for aquatic travel as it was approaching quickly, dark eyes locked onto the blonde.

 

Armand cut his losses and swam away as the pair regrouped just as he and Daniel made it to the water’s edge and climbed up from a small port. Daniel was coughing and retching into the water, the taste of the Grand Canal in his mouth revolting while Armand watched through the dissipating fog two wingless figures climbing from the water and embracing on the foundation of a pier. Their eyes reflected in the light like an animals, changing as their heads tilted or they looked away, unlike the permanent glow of his own and all others like he.

 

But it was obvious that they were staring at him. He cupped his hands over Daniel’s ears and shouted again, watching with delight as they both crumpled in pain and wailed like children.

 

He wanted to leap over the distance, to confront them again, but there were two of them and one mortal he’d rather not lose so he prayed for the sun to rise a little earlier and-

 

“Are you a vampire?”

 

One of them was shouting, in English, across the river. The dark haired one had its hand cupped about its lips and it seemed the other wasn’t pleased with the question as they both jolted and a hiss was heard. He could hear them talking over the clucking tongues of water.  

 

_“No, don’t talk! You’re hurt, let’s escape…!”_

 

They spoke in Swedish privately so Armand answered in turn.

 

“Are _you_?” His Swedish was perfectly suspicious, just another language mastered in his many years. The figures, who were gathered close together, separated and he could see they were both only in shorts, modern ones, and that their features had returned to normal proportions. Small hands and feet, the sexless lanky bodies of preteens just barely affected by puberty. So, were they human at all?

 

They’d used the words ‘Vampire’ and recognized Armand as being one of the same. How? Just as he felt the urge to demand answers again Daniel shivered and gripped at his sopping wet clothes.

 

“Let’s scram,” he wheezed, his glasses lost in the attack, as he squinted towards the children. “Whatever those are- Oh, what-?!”

 

Whatever those are were transforming before their eyes, Their fingers grew long and between each digit and the flanks of their torsos a thin webbing emerged like the wings of a bat. The dark haired one lead the way up the wall, its mangled foot dangling grotesquely, before reaching the top edge of the bridge and taking flight. Off into the mist they disappeared which left Armand with his mortal lover, clinging to one another in the night.

 

* * *

 

 

The next evening Armand arose and headed straight to The Gritti Palace. Daniel was told to stay in their suite and recover- so Armand hissed at the sight of a wide open window. Armand was flattered that Daniel believed in him enough to smite those little devils in the time it took to wake up and feed, but this was reckless.

 

Leaping to the balcony in one bound Armand landed silently on the rails and entered in with one easy step to an unexpected sight.

 

Daniel, wrapped up in a bathrobe with syrup, medicine maybe, dribbled accidentally down one lapel was sitting on a chaise lounge in one of the sitting areas with the dark haired creature from the night before on his lap. The blonde one was laying across the top of an ottoman, its arms outstretched and an Atari 2600 joystick in its hands, all eyes glued to a game of _Pitfall!_ On a small television Armand had brought in.

 

The one in Daniel’s lap looked first, a cold and serious expression for a child on its face, but with a smile it looked easily away and back towards the screen.

 

“Armand is home,” it said in a surprisingly low voice. Armand might have guessed on its ratty attire that the child was a girl, what with the light blue linen pants and friendly, thin yellow sweater with an apple tree on the front, but he couldn’t be sure with such a raspy voice.

 

Daniel didn’t look up, instead fixing the glasses he’d lost in the canal before speaking, glasses that had been returned. “Armand don’t just stand around come and sit-”  
  
“What are you doing.” Armand’s low, cutting words snapped everyone to attention at once. They had one minute to explain themselves before he exterminated the both of them. 30 seconds if they wanted it to be a painless extermination.

 

Daniel started first and neither stranger seemed bothered by this. “Armand, they came by after you left to apologize.”

 

After? But the sun was nearly up by then. As if Daniel could read minds, or maybe he just knew Armand well enough, he answered. “They can stay awake in the day, but the sunlight rule stands. Anyway, they came by with my glasses and their trunk,” he gestured to an open trunk in a corner, blankets and clothes lulling from it like many panting tongues. “And said they only wanted to talk. Promised to stay in the trunk, said if I was scared- you know-” he pointed to the open window and then ran his thumb across his neck with a wet snarling noise. “Or rather-” he spread his fingers out like in an explosion. “Fwoosh. Smithereens.”

 

“We come to make peace,” the lap-sitting one said, “We knew you were a blood drinker but we didn’t know there were ones like you. Just ones like us.”

 

Armand’s nose was scrunched up in anger, almost a snarl, but the more he tried to read them the more he realized they were like they said. Blood drinkers, but not the same breed.

 

“For one,” Daniel said, holding up a finger, “They don’t have to sleep during the day. Eli was up all morning, Oskar woke up around 2pm for a bit.” Armand detested their names immediately, but Daniel… His sweet Daniel, he seemed elated to talk about the two of them. Brighter than he’d been in months now. Armand realized privately that his disgust was conditional.

 

Were they strangers he wouldn’t care. Those names were perfectly fine belonging to people not in Daniel’s life.

 

“And two, they can’t-” he mouthed these next words and thought them aloud. _‘They can’t mind read.’_

 

Armand’s shoulders relaxed.

 

He immediately shot Daniel a vision of the two being toppled out onto the street from their balcony, exploding into flames on the daylit streets below. Why hadn’t he done this?

 

‘ _Cool it_ ’ Daniel warned.

 

“Three-”

 

“That’s enough.” Armand said, ending the conversation, which drew both Eli and Oskar’s attention this time, the two of them looking at eachother, then Daniel, and finally Armand. “If I have questions after your’s are spoken I will ask. But as it stands…”

 

He tried to send them that vision as well, their cries muffled by the hiss and pop of a raging fire as they writhed in the streets but it was no use.

 

Their minds were shut from one another.

 

Eli stood from Daniel’s lap, fixing their yellow sweater, and fearlessly sauntered up to Armand. Tiny grey hairs mixed in with their dark curls and he could see the small vampire was exhausted, unfed. _I’m weak_ , the display said, _I can’t hurt you right now._ Armand stood still, but as Eli’s hand reached up to his face and coaxed him closer he obliged, leaning down. Eli’s eyes closed and while he expected there to be some similarities between them he hadn’t thought it would be the powerful kiss.

 

When they shared the chaste connection Armand felt the whole world between Eli and Oskar erupt suddenly in his mind. The bond of Eli’s kiss was powerful and more vivid than he expected, but a small hand pleaded him to keep still and with his will stretched to its limit Armand allowed the flood to continue. Working backwards he saw the night before with Daniel, their recent travels, Oskar’s turning, the massacre at the pool, the lumbering corpse of Eli’s keeper and him again as a depraved mortal man, the toys he and Oskar shared. On and on back that first night.

 

_“We can’t be friends, you know.”_

Wrenching his head back as soon as the small hand retreated Armand stared blankly at Eli as Daniel piped up from his spot on the couch.

  
“Also, unlike **_somebody_ ** I know, they ask permission to be let in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you managed to get through this and have something you're angry about that I mentioned in the beginning notes I'm sorry, don't read my work again and we'll be fine.
> 
> All other things including notes on historical setting, timeline discrepancies and other factual problems are VERY WELCOME. As are glaring grammar errors and general critique.
> 
> Anyway, hope to write more. TTFN.


	2. Entertain a Gasp

It was easy to establish a visitation limit for the evening. Though the vision did not entirely convince Armand that Elias and Oskar had arrived with only the best intentions that night it did prevent him from snuffing the two of them out immediately after the kiss. That and Daniel’s fierce assertion that he had as much business to understand them as Armand did, maybe even more.

 

“You know just as much about them as I do, Armand and, since I’m the one with a publisher breathing down his back for more blood sucker stories, don’t you think it would be advantageous to better know these two..?” There were many more reasons racing behind Daniel’s pleading expression as he and Armand stood almost eye to eye, his hands petting up and down Armand’s stiff shoulders. “Look at it this way, at least neither of them are exes of your’s so I won’t be airing more of your dirty laundry.” Armand took in Daniel’s expression, brow knitting in the middle to show his displeasure. Not only did he know that wasn’t the reason, he knew more convincing ones drove Daniel’s interest in the children. It was only for Armand’s sake that he didn’t utter them. Daniel thought saying the truth would wound Armand and so he held back. They knew the other knew, as it was with Armand’s Dark Gift. 

 

“Please,” Daniel began, sweeter, as he leaned forward and kissed Armand’s forehead. “You know I’m not gonna… I dunno, they’re not like you at all.” And so there would still be room for Armand in his heart and mind, the space Armand carved out himself in the years they’d been together. 

 

Armand’s expression drooped cartoonishly, looking a bit like a sad-eyed porcelain doll, and he reached up to fiddle with the necklace Daniel wore, deflecting. “Why didn’t this work on them..?” He fussed softly, “The amulet. How can I promise your protection from something new like this..?” Daniel’s hand overtook Armand’s twiddling fingers and tutted. 

 

“That’s what we will find out, ok? They’d- You know, I bet they’d love to help.” 

 

Armand never sighed but he accomplished the gesture just as effectively with a drop of his shoulders and an exaggerated eye-roll. 

 

“Okay. You promise to never write of me again and you may have whatever you wish from them. Anyone but me.” There were far more conditions than this, he and Daniel both knew, but they would approach the true conditions later as they always did. It would be enough at the moment.

 

Daniel had asked to speak privately with Armand after Eli’s vision for several good reasons and then one not so good one. This was why he tipped his head to the side and pressed their lips together in a thankful kiss. 

 

“Not even to wax poetic about that cute little face of yours?”

 

“Can it, Molloy.” Armand returned the volley this time with cold lips against Daniel’s ear, a surefire way to leave the mortal quaking. “I know what you write about me and it’s hardly the poetry you’re trying to sell it as.” 

 

He had Daniel dress, the children pack, and took them to another hotel room- or took Daniel there and made the two vampire children sit upon the balcony of the suite, their precious trunk inside and Daniel sitting affably on it. The balcony window was open and the children had come down from the roof, dropping onto the metal railing with a rattle. They had not transformed, being too weak for it at the moment, and agreed to stay seated on the balcony until Armand had returned from a hunt. At first he asked if they wanted to join in but with a silent glance between one another both Eli and Oskar shook their heads.

 

“Tomorrow,” Oskar said to Armand with a nod, patting Eli on the head so that they would look at him again and repeating the word, tomorrow, as if it held some secret significance. Fine, they could have it their way. Starve even, if he had a word in it.

 

His appetite was ruthless and before the first hour of the evening was up Armand caught himself with the leg of a chair between white fists, wringing it into splinters as if it were nothing but a dish towel. The debris it made fell upon two sunken burglars in the corner of an abandoned, private dock. Water lapped in the small egress out into the canal, the corners a mess of cigarette butts and plastic wrappers as light from a stairwell ascending to an empty home lit Armand’s machinations. His face was perfect calm, but his hands made sawdust of the chair his meal had been sitting in, his hapless accomplice coming down from the house just in time to meet waiting jaws. The covered dock stunk of chemicals and piss and the wood beneath his hands smelled rich with the friction of his palms. The combination was all too much like night he lost his Venice, heat and waste. 

 

Brushing his hands off with one another as he watched his quivering shadow in the water Armand shook with anger, accepting he’d seen enough dead children in Venice already and that Elias and Oskar would have to persist in it with him. It was a matter of principle and not purely his wishes.

 

Armand returned, questions churning in his head, to find Daniel pressing a fist into his upper lip and staring at his personal copy of  _ Interview  _ held open in his other hand like it had just bitten him. Eli and Oskar sat and swayed with mortal sluggishness, straining to pay attention to the silent reporter. He was looking something up for them, fist leaving his lips to thumb back and forth through the blown out pages, but not yet finding what he was looking for.

 

Announcing his return by entering Daniel’s personal space Armand took the opportunity he had while indoors to scrutinize the vampire children. They were similar in height, physical age, and obviously in dress as they both wore the tasteless rags of children allowed to dress themselves. Oskar’s forlorn and hairless face looked like a crudely mashed in ball of paraffin wax, blue eyes peering out from shallow sockets without a hint of definition to his ice-blonde brows. Despite his doll-like pink lips and pointed nose he was also physically more sturdy looking than the other whose appearance, Armand felt, better reflected the preternatural. Eli appeared mostly like a child too, but with skin like polished stone and eyes which seemed to belong to something else entirely every so often. They were sunken in a little, better defined by dark, straight brows and reflected an aloofness that only appeared with true age. When he looked into them Elias returned the glance with an expression as unaffected and patient as his own. 

 

_ Do you want something or may I go back to the obviously unimportant staring I was doing? _

 

”How did you know I was a blood drinker?” Armand asked finally as he stood next to Daniel and spoke out towards the balcony.

 

Elias answered in a rather gruff and raspy voice for a child. “We could hear your heart and followed, we saw you take a victim.” Despite having a wider, more pouted mouth than Oskar it hardly moved with the amount of expression his did. Oskar engaged immediately after Eli, eyes narrowing into slits as he pulled his lips from one corner to the other with thought. 

 

“It did take a few days, though, because of trying to track the sound around here.” He gestured by fanning one hand about like a pinball in a machine. The bounce of sound. “And I think we were just lucky on the bridge to catch you.” 

 

Armand recalled the amulet and how it was effective in shoving other vampires away, but so long as the children could not read his mind he would not share this secret with them. He felt it might be the clue to some secret advantage they had, but would not entertain the thought in such words. “How could you have seen me but I not see you?” He asked, disappointed that Elias and Oskar did not light up with realization. He tried explaining further “I heard you, even felt your presence last night and many nights before.”

 

Oskar defered to Eli immediately, the obvious expert. Both sweater covered shoulders rose and fell with dismissive quickness before Eli reached up to fix Oskar’s jacket thrown over the both of them. “I don’t know.”

 

Armand didn’t want to give up this information at first but he was already feeling the familiar desire to figure out the mystery before him. ”I can’t hear you now,” he murmured, rubbing the minute particles of wood from the stone grooves of his finger tips. 

 

Elias’ eyes flashed with adult intelligence, brows furrowing and looking off at the carefree speed of a mortal. “No? What does that tell us, I wonder?”

 

‘No god damn clue,’ Armand wanted to say, ‘I would learn far more much faster with you open on an examination table than through this game of 20 Questions.’ 

 

Thankfully Daniel jumped in, clearly following some other train of thought as he was tapping a sentence in his book with earnest excitement. “Do you think it was because they were transformed that you could sense them?”

 

“Why only then?” Eli asked in that same raspy monotone.

 

“I don’t know, but it’s worth testing isn’t it? They’re not transformed now and last night- Actually, guys could you try that now-?”

 

”No, we’re tired and hungry,” Oskar spoke up this time, directly to Daniel. “It would take too much effort right now.” And possibly put the one mortal there in danger. Their last attempt at a meal had been on Daniel the night before and that had been interrupted after all. 

 

This thread of conversation seemed to pique Armand’s genuine interest and without being seen doing so he appeared upon Eli and Oskar’s trunk, mimicking Daniel’s thinking pose from earlier. “I  _ could _ sense you when you had those wings...” Armand murmured “But not now. Why would that be so?”

 

Oskar shrugged “We don’t know. There is a lot we don’t know.” Eli didn’t interrupt to correct him so Armand assumed this was indeed the truth and they survived purely through dumb luck. “We know only how to eat and how to make more of ourselves.”

 

“And how do you do that, make more of your kind?” Armand went still, ready to wait for his answer, but he should have known it was going to be simple. 

 

Looking to one another first for permission, Eli and Oskar each held out a hand and pantomimed cutting their palms open with the tip of an index finger. “First you draw blood,” Eli explained, “And then mix it.” They laced their hands together, holding them out to show Daniel and Armand, before Oskar added on.

 

“A little bite helps too.” His expression lit up sheepishly at the mention of this. 

 

Armand could not hide his surprise and his head jerked to the side so that he could peer suspiciously towards the children. Daniel, similarly surprised, just let his jaw drop before he blinked through the amazement and leaned back into his chair. “Is that really it?”

 

“Yes. It’s quite easy to happen on accident, too.” Eli explained wearily. “That is why... we must always-” 

 

Oscar cut in quickly as if he’d missed an earlier prompt, which elicited a sigh of relief from Eli. “That’s why we have to always make sure the people we drink from can’t come back to life when we’ve bitten them.” 

 

Daniel nodded slowly, eyes scraping the ceiling as he processed this information. “Like a…” He trailed off.

 

Armand turned his head back, looking them both straight on again. He had visibly calmed. “And the process, is it painful..?” Does the bite kill you and then bring you back?” Why else go to the trouble of making sure one’s victims didn’t come back to life?

 

“No, it’s like… You get sick is all.” Elias’ hand unlaced from Oscar’s and pat his knee. “It’s been a while so maybe I’ve forgotten how I felt, but Oskar seemed fine. We stayed up all night together.”

 

Armand’s dry tongue ran under his pointed fangs, barely able to hold back his next question “...So then you are not dead?”

 

“What?” Oskar sat up straight and looked at Armand with confusion. “No, we’re not. I’m not- I don’t think we are, right Eli?”

 

Either Elias was building up the gumption to speak or purposefully playing with Armand’s flair for the dramatic because by the time they answered Armand’s entire body was as tense as a bowstring and leaning desperately close to listen.

 

“...No, for if we die we change into something else entirely,” Eli began hesitantly. “That is why we must double check the- People. After. We must make sure they do not die and come back as something else.” 

 

“I don’t know what to say it is we become,” Eli continued, frown cutting into their round cheeks. “But it is like a ghoul. Not even aware they’re dead except to hide from the sun. Their body continues even if the mind is gone. Only separating the heart and head protects them from coming back.” If it was even possible Eli appeared somehow more pale and sickly than before after explaining this. “May I come in and show you?”

 

Daniel jolted up and smacked his lips. “Oh- Yes, co-”   
  
“Come in, both of you.” Armand interrupted, his large brown eyes focused sharply upon Elias as both of the visitors rose and entered with permission. Oskar, probably aware of what was to happen, leaned up against the wall, out of the way. Eli first went to Armand and leaned down to peck him on the lips, the psychic connection immediate and all encompassing as he saw, through Eli’s eyes, the shambling body of Hakan, barely covered in a hospital gown and groaning out the name of his ‘beloved.’ He somehow knew the context, knew just who this man had been to him, as Eli, and why it made his skin crawl to see that melted face once more. Armand’s heart raced with panic, he knew Hakan was supposed to have been obliterated from the fall but there he was, as bold as the day was long. A sick lurch had pulled at his stomach before, but when Hakan reached clumsily down to yank up his gown, exposing himself, the lurch turned into a titter of laughter, Eli’s laughter. That’s what drove him to walk around in such a state? Armand laughed with Eli, laughed at this undead ogre, but blacked out suddenly as if fainting. 

 

Eli pulled away, leaving Armand to contemplate what he’d just seen when Daniel was given the vision as well. All was quiet at first, Armand watching the process though his mind was elsewhere, only to be drawn back by Daniel laughing against the vision, eyes shut with amusement until he too was flung from the scene. 

 

Daniel looked up, instantly enlightened. Discovery always took the years off his face, pushing him back into perfect adolescent bliss when giving him the key to a new world. It was why Armand pushed him into so many new things. “Louis!” Daniel started, violet eyes aflame behind his wire frame glasses. “The creature he saw with Claudia- before Paris-!” Without thinking he grabbed Eli’s head and nearly smashed their faces together again but with a guffaw Elias batted his hands away.

 

“It only goes in one direction!” They scolded, wagging a finger in Daniel’s starry-eyed face. “But what is it you’re so excited of?”

 

Realizing there was much context to cover Daniel carded his hair back and then patted down his chest for a cigarette. As briefly as he could muster Daniel explained how he’d found himself in the present situation. “A lot more clumsy than a kiss, huh?” he said after trying to explain again why he’d run from Armand in the first place only to be his glorified pet as of late. “The long and short of it is Louis, another vampire like Armand, told me about this kind of creature during that interview.” Three cigarettes were now stamped out in an ashtray Armand brought over and the fourth was snuffed out among it’s packmates as Daniel wrapped up his story. 

 

Eli’s earlier hesitance gave way to full cooperation, though they still reserved any absolute certainty. “I can’t say that what he saw was one of ours without seeing it myself- but what you said is very much like what I showed you, isn’t it?” Daniel nodded and everyone felt like a bit of progress had been made.

 

“Just as well,” Armand began with a practiced toss of his rich curls, “No one of  _ my _ kind would ever end up in such disarray.”

 

Daniel’s face contorted with disappointment and he croaked in his throat, unable to speak, before Oskar chimed in.

 

“That’s because your kind is already dead, isn’t it?” His ears were red, proof of a responsive sympathetic nervous system. Suddenly things clicked. It explained the fear, revulsion, even the genuine laughter to an extent, within Elias’ vision. Armand didn’t recognize immediately what left him spinning after the vision but it was those human responses. He could recall them perfectly and even replicate them to an extent, but his responses were that of a vampire now and often only the facsimile of base human reaction. 

 

Even now, with that profound realization tearing through him, Armand sat perfectly still as the image of placidity. 

 

“We are dead. And you are alive. I exist as an impression of life and you in stasis.” Armand’s lips parted and, for the first time in many long years, he took a breath not to facilitate speech but to entertain a gasp. 


	3. Spinning Wheels

By sunset on their third day together it was obvious Eli and Oskar needed desperately to feed. Daniel exited his bedroom to find Eli and Oskar laid out listlessly on the floor. Oskar looked tired like so many jetlagged children he had seen, the irregular schedule making his eye sockets a spiders web of veins under overly rubbed skin. He was laying on his stomach, eyes pointed at a game of _Centipede_ he was absolutely going to lose. Across his back was Eli looking about as horrible, if not worse, than Daniel had ever seen Armand. Even at his most starved. The marked difference between Armand, Oskar, and Elias’ hunger was that the last appeared to have _aged._

 

Eli’s black hair was a mess of salt and pepper, eyes that stared blankly upwards were wrinkled at the corners and weighed by heavy bags. Lips had lost their fullness and flattened against dirty yellow teeth. Withered hands sat still on a flat stomach and Eli was completely limp as they lay across Oskar’s back. Approaching the duo in his pajamas, Daniel cleared his throat first to alert them that he was awake and then stood a fair distance away in case the blood drinkers were unable to control themselves. Nerves made him suddenly chilly, creeping down his back and telling him that he should have known better than to walk out there all living and full of blood- But he wanted to think better of the children. He wanted to believe they were as fascinated by him as he was of them, in a way; a human who could respect their boundaries without fear or anger. Someone willing to help.

 

“You both look terrible.” He stated, gesturing in the air above them as if to swat away a fly. “This is what happens without feeding, then?”

 

Oskar rolled over on his side a bit, setting the joy stick down, and inadvertently rolling Eli up upon themselves, eliciting a groan. The duo adjusted until Oskar was sat upon his bottom and Eli flattened onto the floor once more near a forgotten brain teaser. “Yes, but, do we really look that bad?” Oskar turned a little and took in Elias’ appearance without much of a reaction, but when Eli matched his gaze the both of them grimaced at one another.

 

“You can see yourselves in mirrors, right?” Daniel smiled, drawing nearer.

 

“Uh-huh, we can.” Oskar looked back to Daniel, his brow-less face somewhat difficult to read.

 

“Try not to until later, you’re gonna break it.”  


Oskar’s smile wasn’t trouble to understand at all and it delighted Daniel to see it despite so many days without food. “No I won’t!” He protested with a sheepish smile, rocking side to side where he sat before he prodded Eli’s shoulder. “But, maybe _this_ one will.” Elias rolled their eyes, dark and tired, but now more… tense than before. Daniel watched closely as Oskar got up onto his knees and leaned over his companion, tapping on Eli’s forehead in a gentle pattern.

 

Oskar was quite tender with Elias then, which was the first Daniel had seen such a reversal in their dynamic. From the first night where Elias took on Armand it was clear their experience as a vampire was an appreciated authority to Oskar. Elias was older, obviously, but it didn’t show in the ways Daniel might have expected. They certainly played and spoke like children, but in matters related to vampires Eli was the clear leader. Which is what made the present interaction so odd.

 

“Come on, we should get you to eat,” Oskar said, leaning down over Eli in a manner that made Daniel feel he was encroaching on something private. They whispered to one another and Oskar leaned back up before standing and taking out Eli’s outstretched arm. The both of them groaned as they got to their feet and quickly braced themselves against one another to keep from toppling over.

 

“Are you heading out then?” Daniel asked from his odd spot behind the couch, the last barrier between himself and the two starving vampires.

 

Oskar’s face scrunched up in thought as it did when searching for the most surface of answers one could give. “Uhm, yeah. I think we’ll be going,” he answered in that squeaky pre-teen voice Daniel found a nice contrast to Elias’ steady rasp. “If all goes well we’ll be back soon.”

Eli, who seemed even more exhausted on their feet, fixed the ratty t-shirt and threadbare slacks they wore before giving Daniel an order. “Leave the window open for us.”

 

“Sounds good,” he said, following after them to the front door of the suite. Their dirty clothes were going to be noticed in the lobby, he realized, and as Oskar opened the front door with a grunt Daniel thumbed at his cheek, attempting to guess their clothes sizes.

 

“Bye, Daniel,”   
  
“Bye, be back soon.”   
  
  
They sounded like kids going off to school, not killers on a hunt. The two matched the little wave Daniel offered before the suite door closed and the human was left alone. _Centipede_ gnashed in the background, its immature electronic blips inelegant and in complete opposite to refinement of the hotel Armand had him shoved in. He wasn’t all that bothered even if he did circle back to the television to shut it off on his way to open the balcony door. Nothing made him feel alive like spending time with the dead, after all.

 

Lighting a cigarette and wondering if he’d get around to eating in the hour, Daniel thought about the kids and how quickly they’d arrived in their little trunk and gotten him as wrapped up in their world as Louis had. He wanted to know them completely and felt, unlike Armand, they wouldn’t withhold a thing. Surely they would experience all the world offered as Armand did with him, but unlike Armand they didn’t seem to know enough to know there were things you didn’t share. He took a drag, thought more on right before they had left, and smiled when something in him clicked. Of course they wouldn’t share everything, who could? But if his guess was right the tapping on Elias’ forehead hadn’t just been to get their attention, it was Morse code.

 

Daniel was more than happy to leave them that mystery. It had been years since Armand dragged him to a class on the code but he could still recall the tapping that had captivated his lover well. Armand tapping out the name of objects on their surface, tapping out poetry against Daniel’s naked back. Daniel smiled wider and laughed privately. Of all the mysteries in the world he managed to run into code-obsessed vampires, twice over.

 

* * *

 

 

Armand arrived after taking time out of the evening for a Little Drink, entering a silent hotel room not an hour after sunset to see it was littered with evidence of the child vampires his lover had taken a troublesome shine to. On the floor was a joystick, on a table some knotted chains, a colored puzzle cube tossed in the corner of a couch. The window was open and the scent of the ocean blew in with the change of temperature, no hint of Daniel’s cigarettes in the air, but Armand heard him rummaging through their luggage in the bedroom. Moseying over, hands clasped behind his back, the door opened for Armand with a simple display of willpower and inside the bedroom was Daniel pacing around a rotary phone.

 

Armand could hear a musical recording from the receiver, Daniel was on hold.

 

He had the phone pinched between his ear and shoulder, using one hand to hold his book while the other pinched a cigarette butt. Without more than a nod of acknowledgement Daniel explained what he was up to and realized he no longer needed the finished cigarette, crushing it into an ashtray on the bedside table.

 

“Tapes. I’m getting them sent from the house in New York to Miami- for when we get home” he said, leaving his trash in a priceless ceramic dish. “I-I want to double check, might be something I’ve forgotten in the tapes, something I didn’t add.” He was thinking hard on this, trying to recall Louis’ voice in his memories like words mumbled on the edge of sleep. His mortal brain had forgotten quite a bit to make room for Armand’s follys.

 

“Miami?” Armand asked sweetly as he entered the bedroom, taking full advantage of the privacy to speak bluntly. “We’ll return tonight, if you wish.”

 

Daniel turned to him, free hand grabbing the phone so he could look straight on at Armand and gawk. “What- And just leave them both?” His voice went high at the end of his sentence as it only did when he was completely unsold on an idea. Though Armand knew that was the end of it and there would be no convincing he bristled on the inside and fought it anyway. Or wanted to.

 

There was a metallic twang from the livingroom and the heavy flapping of leathery wings as Eli and Oskar landed on the balcony.

 

“Daniel!” Oskar called, “Can we have a towel?”

 

Armand and Daniel’s eyes remained locked, testing one another, until Oskar called again.

 

The vampire jerked his head minutely to the side and a smile appeared on his face. “Well, go fetch, if you like them so much.” But his words didn’t have their intended effect at all. Daniel tossed the phone to the bed midway through Armand’s dig and left his book absentmindedly in the bathroom as he grabbed towels for Eli and Oskar both. Armand watched him leave, the smile completely wiped away, and then turned to the phone.

 

He found it better to pick it up and focus on the music instead of whatever Daniel was up to. Looking after children, what had happened to them? Where was room in their lives for things that needed looking after? He stared holes in the wall as he waited and stood stock still when the other line clicked on and a faraway voice asked if Mr. Molloy was still there.

 

“Yeah, right here,” Armand mimicked perfectly.

 

“Oh, thank you sir for holding- Now, the tapes. You’re looking at a delivery within the next seven business days, standard-”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Well, see the thing is I might be heading home- er, to Miami sooner and it’d be nice to get them overnighted if possible.”  
  
There was a pause on the other side, Armand could almost see Daniel’s assistant scanning the ceiling for some place to hang a noose. “We _can_ have them overnighted to Miami, but it will cost exuberantly more _and_ require a signature which-”

 

Armand peered over his shoulder at the sound of three shuffling sets of feet to watch Daniel cart a muck covered, blank faced Eli into the sitting room. Actually both of the children were covered head to toe in a smattering of filth and their mouths were practically painted in blood. Oskar was animated enough to keep out of Daniel’s way, rubbing at his mouth and then licking the heel of his palm like a preening cat. The towels were thrown over their shoulders to catch water from their hair and cover their shirtless bodies. Oskar was speaking softly to Daniel, but then again so was the person on the line, and Armand couldn’t quite listen to both.

 

“Sir? Are you still wanting to overnight the tapes?”

 

Daniel’s brow was knit and his eyes went from Oskar’s face to the top of Eli’s drooped head. He reached out and steadied the swaying child, petting them comfortingly. Armand could see his lips form the words: _‘You know who to ask for help? Armand.’_ Eli glanced up, not to Daniel, but straight into the bedroom. Beneath that curtain of dark hair knotted with blood and gore was a silent plea. Help with what Armand didn’t immediately know, but the expression on Elias’ face made him feel like he was capable of performing a miracle. As though he alone could save Eli from complete and utter despair.

 

What did one make of that?

 

“Ah- actually-” Armand turned towards the sitting room and all three sets of eyes were on him now. “Standard is fine, great even. You know the address. Hope you had a good Easter.” Armand hung up as Daniel’s agent angrily wished the same and he left for the living room.

 

“Were you playing me again?” Daniel asked, looking a little pale but trying his hardest to be relaxed for the sake of others.

 

“Yes, how else would we manage if not for a bit of playing pretend?” He smiled, extending the olive branch to his Daniel.

 

However, Armand had to stop several feet from the group as he was assaulted by a horrible stench emanating from the children. Blood, sea, and bitter bile. He purposefully held up his hands to show he wasn’t coming any closer and squeezed his eyes shut as if they stung. Mostly it was to shield himself from Eli’s expression, finding it difficult to look at without becoming overwhelmed, but the gesture served him well in other ways. “Not in a _century_ have I faced so foul a stench. Is that you two?”

 

He cracked open his eyes to see the children’s expressions had turned to scorn, which he could stand to look at, and with a haughty tone Armand added, “I’ve gone lifetimes without bathing, save for the rain… So spare me the dirty look, I think I’m an expert.”

 

Eli and Oskar looked cautiously at each other, trying to decide if it was appropriate to laugh. Daniel decided for them, his face screwing up in knots of amusement before he put his hands on his knees and let out a peel of bright laughter. “Are you kid-ding me?”

 

Armand’s lips quirked up. “No, I’m not.”

 

“No- I mean-” Daniel leaned back now, hands at either side of his face as Eli and Oskar relaxed enough to giggle. “I mean that’s literally the first time you’ve spoken about your past in years and it’s to tell me _that_.” He broke apart again, laughing harder. “That’s gross, Armand. Even for you.”

 

“I’m glad you find it amusing, Daniel, but the fact of the matter is you two,” he pointed to Eli and Oskar in their towels and filthy clothes, “require a bath immediately. What is that smell from, by the way?”

 

Eli didn’t stop to speak, floating away from the conversation and towards the suite bath to wash the night’s events away.

 

Oskar, lingering behind, took it upon himself to speak on their behalf. “It’s uhm. Well, we didn’t really have luck with people.” Up close Armand saw his skin was glittering with hundreds of shiny fish scales. “ So we dived into a fishing net.”

 

Armand’s head tilted just enough to look at Oskar sideways, brows creasing his marble forehead. “A net of fish? How many dozen do you think you would have to drink from to sustain yourselves?”

 

Oskar shrugged coyly and made a face like Eli’s before. Desperate. “I dunno. We only had a couple each because after we have to-” he mimed tearing something apart with his hands, which were covered in grime.

 

Armand gave a nod. “Otherwise… Vampire fish, is that right..?”

 

Stooping his head low Oskar shook his head in agreement. “So how do you-”

 

“Bath first. Questions after.” Armand said, giving Oskar a comically wide breadth to pass by him and towards the bathroom. “How am I going to speak to you when I can barely handle standing in the same room?”

 

Oskar probably used all the blood in his body to blush and then trotted after Elias, the bathroom door opening and shutting as the two of them went to wash off scales, guts, and blood.

 

Daniel started walking about the room, picking up toys and puzzles to set on the finely carved coffee table, but it was only to waste time. When the shower was turned on, dampening any sounds outside the bathroom, he turned to Armand with a serious face again.

 

“What did you say to my assistant?”

 

Armand went stone cold, crossing his arms again and trying to appear as aloof as possible. “Couldn’t ask in front of the brats? Why, Daniel? What did you gain from waiting to ask?”

 

Daniel took in a deep breath, eyes widening. To see him struggling and teetering on the edge of anger made Armand’s heart race. “What did you _say?_ ” He asked again, putting emphasis on the question so that Armand might answer this time. No need of course, he’d heard.

 

The bath continued to run and Armand relaxed in the rush of noise, closing his eyes and turning away from Daniel. His mortal heart thumped hard and fast as frustration tied him up. Armand could hear the angry shouting in his head, the wordless reasoning as he tried to feel out whether or not Armand overnighted the tapes and booked a flight while he was at it, but also the agony of why Armand would put him in this position in the first place. _Tell me_ , he begged through grit teeth and clenched fists, turning away to put up more toys.

 

Something prickled in Armand’s throat as he watched Daniel stoop down and pluck Eli and Oskar’s plastic baubles from the floor. He realized his crossed arms were clenching the skin tight sweater he was wearing, poking holes into the ribbed knit with his nails. After a while the sounds from the bathroom grew more layered. Muffled chatter. Splashes. Tittering laughter. They’d finished scrubbing off the worst of it and could play.

 

Armand and Daniel listen to them in the bath and before either noticed they were standing still and just listening. Strong as his senses were he couldn’t hear through wood clearly and since Armand’s Mind Gift didn’t seem able to penetrate the children’s thoughts he was as locked out as Daniel to the subject of their games. That said, he could still hear Daniel clear as a bell. The hurt wasn’t as stinging but a new agony was weakening him.

 

“Aren’t they something?” He asked. “They don’t seem at all like… She did. She was a woman in a child’s body at the end.” Oh, her. Yes, Armand thought, Claudia was more a woman than he ever felt he was a man, sometimes. She did not have to twist people to get her way and didn’t fight her helplessness except with tools she crafted herself. He could have never been so forthright in defeating an enemy as equal to him as Lestat. He hadn’t been with her, after all. Claudia deserved more than being tossed into the fire as Armand had done to his weak-willed followers so long before her making, but she deserved more than she got just as well.

 

“Despite their ages Eli is Oskar’s contemporary. Culture and race don’t matter to children, and neither does time, apparently.” Armand said, “ Perhaps it is in their physiology that they’ll always be this playful. Maybe it is good they’re both so young to be together.”

 

Daniel furrowed his brow. “So you don’t think they’ll change?”

 

“Elias is… How old? Certainly enough to change by now, right?” Armand rubbed a finger appraising beneath his bottom lip. “If their minds arrest when they are turned it would explain a lot.”

 

“And your’s didn’t?” The edge was back, Daniel was warming up with anger again. He was thinking no one but a seventeen year old asshole would toy with him like this. He was thinking how it made him sick to stay if Armand’s mind was, as he’d just said, _arrested_. This struck a chord and Armand silenced his thoughts immediately before they got out of his control.

 

“We leave for Miami as scheduled, a week from now. In the meanwhile I will entertain this investigation.” Armand said this dismissively, eyes towards the door to the bath, and he heard Daniel come up behind him in a rush to throw his arms about him. His hair was warm and his skin like a hot plate. He pulled Armand into his chest and dropped his forehead to Armand’s shoulder. Armand tsk’d softly and reached up to smooth back his ashen blonde hair. “Daniel, are you really that glad?”

 

“Yeah. Super glad.” He murmured, voice edged with emotion. “I don’t know how you can’t be. Learning about them with you is…” It’s the most worthwhile adventure they’ve embarked on so far.

 

The prickle reappeared in his throat as Daniel spun about to Armand’s front, holding and kissing him properly. Armand always liked that they were more equal in height than he and past paramours. While it brought him a secret pleasure to lord over others at his stature he could not deny how it felt to fit together with another so equally. He wondered briefly what it would be like to hug one of the children as it had been a very long time since he’d handled anyone smaller than himself. Not since Claudia.

 

Armand’s arms looped beneath Daniel’s and crisscrossed his back comfortably as the sound of Elias and Oskar’s playing got a little louder. The shower squeaked off and their giggling was heard at a clear volume. _Get away, fish breath!_ There was the wet smack of feet on tile and one of them was growling and hissing as the other laughed harder. It must have been Oskar laughing as it sounded somewhat familiar to his voice, shy but sweet. There was a bit more giggling and then _Oh!_

 

The door creaked open just a sliver. “Uhm, hello?” Oskar again. “Our clothes are in the trunk, if- Uhm..?”

 

“I hear you!” Daniel called out, sounding glad to help. “Just a minute, don’t go anywhere!”  
  
“But where could we go?” It was Elias speaking this time, not getting the joke. Armand smiled, he thought Elias was asking the right question, where would they go? How silly of Daniel to say that. Daniel went to the trunk, which was shoved in a corner of the sitting room, and dug through a net pouch on the inside of the open lid. It was all stained and oversized clothes from victims or properly sized children’s clothes very near to falling apart. Armand got a kick out of Daniel hesitating to pick what clothes to pull out since they were all so awful but decided to help out anyway. Going into Daniel’s clothes in the bedroom he went through a few hangers and then spotted a duffle bag kicked about on the floor. Boxers, t-shirts, sweat pants. It would all be too big on their frames but it was better than nothing. Armand met Daniel on the way out and when he saw the clean clothes in Armand’s hands he stopped and made way for Armand to offer first.

“Come out, I’ve got your clothes” Armand coaxed softly, tapping at the door before sliding a few steps back.

 

The door cracked open and one of Oskar’s thin arms poked out before he opened the door more and slipped some of his upper body out as well. It seemed bashfulness was still an affliction to these vampires. Armand couldn’t recall the last time he’d been humiliated by his own nudity. Oscar looked to the clothes in Armand’s hands blankly before looking up to the other vampire. “These aren’t-”

 

“I know, take them anyway and pick among yourselves,” Armand interrupted as he placed one piece after the other into Oskar’s waiting hand, “Of course they don’t fit but it is better than making you both dirty again.” The boy glanced about and then gave a jerk of his shoulders to say ‘fair enough’ before slipping back inside.

 

Eli and Oskar popped out of the bathroom not long after, drowning in Daniel’s shirts and shorts. Oskar bothered stuffing his shirt into the elastic band he was now attempting to tighten smaller with cords to no avail. Elias picked the longest shirt from the bunch and threw it on over a pair of boxers that was barely peeking out from the hem, accepting there was no way to make things fit better. Daniel had tried to place Eli and Oskar’s clothes back but to organize scraps was pointless and he let them hang on open edge of the trunk like wagging tongues.

 

“Looking sharp,” he smirked as Eli and Oskar shuffled from the bathroom to the sitting room, wilting a little when he saw how hungry they appeared to be. Sluggish and tired, the two dropped onto the couch and deflated into the damask patterned cushions. “Not enough..?”

 

“Not nearly,” Eli murmured, their eyes closing. After a pause to relax or catch their breath, maybe work up a bit of nerve, they spoke up once more. “We have to go out again soon, tonight if possible.”

 

Armand’s first thought was that them getting dirty enough for two baths in one night was overkill, his second was that letting these children continue to live and suffer for it was cruel. Perhaps he would take them hunting and stake them to a rooftop together so they could greet the sun one last time. Paranoid for a moment that the children might be able to hear him, due to the volume of violence against them in this plan, Armand glanced towards them and was relieved to see neither had stirred. However, Eli was looking at him again with that puppy-dog expression from before, hurting him far more than any guilt he might feel for entertaining the thought of murdering these children.

 

Now that Elias was clean and evoking residual memories of Daniel in the clothes they were wearing Armand almost felt Elias looked… sweet. They certainly had a degree of wretchedness Armand habitually fell victim to, growing far too fond of things and people better off burning out alone, but maybe it wasn’t due to foundational flaws. Elias and Oskar might be true victims of circumstance instead of prisoners to fractured souls like Nicki or of cavernous needs like Daniel. If this was true there might be hope for them.   


And that is what made him fidget with doubt. He did what he pleased with helpless people, but hope and responsibility was a habit he’d kicked long ago.

 

Daniel might had sensed some of this hesitation in Armand because he came close and ruffled his hair with familiarity. “So I was saying to them earlier you’re kind of a big deal when it comes to hunting,” he purred, starting right off the bat with flattery.

 

Armand’s eyes narrowed, darkly lined with their heavy lashes, and he raised one brow with suspicion. “How are you making that comparison? I’m quite the killer compared to you, but so are those two. Don’t diminish their skills because you possess none of them.”

 

Daniel sighed and let his shoulders drop, lips flattening as his mind flashed with the urge to shake Armand. _That’s not the point!_

 

Unfortunately Eli caught on anyway and sat up from the couch a little, nestling into a corner closest to Armand to better harass him. “No, I’m sure Daniel is right and you’re very good,” they said in that breathy tone of theirs. “If you and I went out I could teach Oskar on my own- We would feed better and faster.” And be much safer for Daniel to handle, Armand thought privately.

 

“That’s a bright idea, Elias.” Armand granted in a sovereign tone, setting off Daniel’s bullshit meter immediately. “We should make a quick meal of someone for you but after I should take Oskar…” Daniel was staring at him questioningly, trying to hide this by stepping casually between himself and Elias’ view.

 

Armand looked right at him. _What is it? You think I want to hurt them after so soon granting your wishes to keep them?_ Armand smiled and shook his head. Wise boy.

 

Elias had been thinking for a moment and continued after they reached a conclusion. “We don’t have to both go out, we have the jugs for that.” Armand and Daniel both needed those words explained and the two turned to watch Elias stand slowly and mosey towards the trunk. In the net where their clothes had been was a yellowed plastic jug that looked a bit like a hospital urinal for a bedridden patient. Letting it thump hollowly against the other object stuffed in the net first Elias pulled it out and showed the jug to Daniel and Armand with outstretched hands. “We can fill this up and bring it home.”

 

Armand wanted to gag. They were going to bleed a victim in there let it get cold? The bottle was filthy and probably rinsed out only when they had access to water worth washing it with- But fine. He wasn’t going to polish them in a night and part of him felt it would have disappointed Daniel to force better habits into their skulls so early in their arrival. If taking care of these creatures was worth doing at all it was worth doing right.

 

“Perfect. We can do just that,” he said smoothly, coming to Elias’ front and offering his hand. “Daniel, Oskar, try not to have too much fun while we’re away.”


	4. Secondhand Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, this ended up being really... long. Also, no beta. If you'd like to beta things hmu here or on tumblr at: superhiki

Armand let Elias climb to the rooftop before him, watching how the empty jug fastened to a belt around their waist bounced with each movement. The roof was part of another suite there at the hotel and so the two jumped to a better vantage point, hoping to avoid the other guests as well. The sun was far gone, not even a hint of it beneath the horizon out at sea, and it gave them perfect cover. Though not as foggy as the previous evenings the humidity muffled mortal senses enough for Armand to take advantage of. People’s thoughts were dulled in the dewy weather and the collective murmur a dreamy fantasy. He looked to Elias, their mind completely shut off from his own, and decided he was going to give the child a harder time hunting than necessary so as to better suss them out. They were still strangers and he could not let Daniel’s beguilingly inquisitive nature completely dull his instincts to destroy them.

 

Elias clearly could not sense the thin ice they were walking on with Armand’s cold judgement a black chasm beneath--- If they were nervous to be alone with him they did not show it, rubbing at their still damp hair and parting it down the middle to try and tuck it behind their ears, out of their face. The lack of concern left Armand wondering if Elias was oblivious or truely not bothered. In either case he could not keep from feeling slighted.

 

“To the alleys first,” Armand began, pleased to see Eli snap to attention. “While we have nothing to fear it is a better place to hide than on the roof. You and Oskar don’t have to-”

 

“I know. So, when we’re there, what next? What do you do when you’re in the shadows?” Elias interrupted. They were skipping ahead in the lesson plan. They were also 200 years old at the very least but Armand wanted to justify the fact they had already survived this long as purely chance

 

“Therein lies the difference between us,” Armand began with grave self importance. “You must go to them; I have them come, instead, to me.” He looked up as if tasting something on the wind, his anastole hair remaining full and curled despite the weather as if to further prove how apart from the world he was. The literal creature next to him had no idea that his power came from something entirely ethereal. Armand existed through will and Elias… Some sort of venomous bug bite, he assumed. Their powers were nothing more than the welt of a bee sting.

 

Armand looked to Elias, their dark eyes serious but full of curiosity. “And how do you make them come to you?” They gave a nod of their chin towards Armand, questioning him.

 

“Follow and I will show you how.”

 

They started out by climbing up onto the building sandwiched directly next to the roof they stood on. Bricks were easy to climb up for Armand and he and took note of how slow Elias was, having to look for hand holds and then exerting effort to pull themselves up. Storing this for later, he then looked for a gap between buildings for them to drop down. They had to skip over a few more rooftops, the clinking of tiles or soft scrape of Elias’ bare feet on stone or stucco the only sounds between them.  

 

Some three stories up off the ground they were when Armand came to a suitable alley for his first display of power. The two of them stepped off the edge and landed quietly, but before they even reached the ground Armand’s mind was searching for someone suitable. It felt closest to breathing, the sensation of his senses expanding past the physical limits of his brain like a net and catching thoughts and feelings in the air. Taking in the night like the first breath upon waking, Armand relaxed against the wall of the alley and felt himself melt into the night. If not for the fact Elias was there to witness his physical form remaining one might say he really did disappear into thin air and blanket the Venice night with his Mind Gift.

He didn’t have to look far for someone down on their luck, it was a common affliction throughout the ages, and with hardly any effort at all he coaxed the young man closer and closer until the tired, defeated little Pierrot turned the corner and walked straight into the alley. His hopeless and sunken expression poorly matched the round cheeks and dimples on his face, it appeared this was an uncharacteristic spell he was under, and perhaps because of his unfamiliarity with despair he was all the more a victim to it.

 

“Can you see why I brought him here?” Armand asked as he turned to their guest and opened his arms in greeting

 

“No.” Elias whispered, tense and pinned to the wall but still loud enough to be heard over the human’s sniffling. “You did this?”

 

“Yes,” Armand granted softly before repeating himself over and over, trapping the devastated young man in his arms and patting his face. “Yes, yes, yes. Isn’t it so unfair?” He was speaking to the mortal as much as he was Elias. When the young man was in his arms Armand’s mind contracted in an instant, the mist drifting through Venice compacting to a psychic needle point and driving straight into the skull of the weeping man. He went silent and still, Armand gripping him by the back of his neck and gently steering him towards Eli like a well trained animal.

 

Elias was dumbfounded. “Did you drug him?”

 

“No,” Armand murmured, twisting the man’s head so that he bent down slowly and exposed his bare neck without protest. “Taste for yourself.” Elias stepped with one foot in front of the other in a balancing act, arms out at their sides to keep steady on the flat ground as Armand presented his victim. “Come on,” he coaxed, giving a small shake so the man’s head swiveled limply. “You’re the only one who will be doing the biting.”

 

Elias’ dark eyes jumped back and forth between Armand and the mortal until they were pressed right up against Armand’s side, now fixated on the bare flesh with a hypnotic hunger Armand knew too well. Lips pulled back on elongated eye teeth and the entirety of Elias’ face became ghastly, broad nose flaring and wrinkles radiating from the bridge of their nose like a beast’s. Something else darkened in their features, a ghost crossing over them and distorting their childlike appearance like a possession, and Armand felt his jaw tighten at the sight.

 

Once latched onto the man’s neck a snarl clicked wetly in the back of Elias’ throat and the sound of teeth through flesh hinted at a technique so messy that it was soon matched with feeling of wasted blood running hot over Armand’s hands and the plipping of blood on the stone beneath their feet. Hiding his disapproval beneath a mask, Armand let Elias drink until they could take no more, leaning back and panting before taking the jug off their belt and attempting to catch blood against the wound. This did not go on for long as the man’s blood pressure had dropped through the floor and all that came out of him was a trickle. Also, as the blood dribbled onto the jug’s lip it ran down the sides and made even more of a mess. They would need to fetch another victim.

There was a literal puddle beneath them from Elias’ eating but, since they weren’t preoccupied with the jug for Oskar any longer, Elias was getting antsy about the man having been bitten.

“Shall we… Do away with him now?” They asked, refastening the jug on their belt and then playing nervously with the buckle. Armand nodded without answering and went through his usual process of removing the wound before seeking a more permanent solution to the problem at hand. Or, he would have, had Elias not gasped and pushed at his face with both hands when he was about to press his lips to the hideously messy bite wound they left. Having already bit his tongue blood dripped from his mouth at the well meaning attack and with a flash of movement he’d taken one of Elias’ wrists in his hands and gripped it hard enough to make the child cry out.

 

His stare must have been enough to inspire thought in Elias as they hissed out their reasoning a moment later, snatching their wrist back as soon as Armand’s grip loosened.

 

“Don’t- Do- That!” They growled, pointing their uninjured hand at the gaping wound. “It’s all over that, the sickness. If you let it inside it might hurt you!”

  
Armand hadn’t considered that but he didn’t let the surprise show on his face. That said, not a second later he dismissed Elias’ worry completely. He couldn’t possibly fall ill to their bite or spit or blood, whatever it was that could turn mortals into their breed. He offered an apologetic smile and tutted. “There’s nothing to fear, but you and I must use words, Eli.” He said gently, using the hand that had hurt them to pet down their hair and brush softly against a warming cheek. “Be gentle with me. I’m quite old.”

 

Certain his lies and their irony were lost on the child he went back to what he was doing and lapped at the blood on his lip before cutting his tongue again and pressing a kiss to the fatal wound. Immediately he knew regret.

 

Elias’ residue tasted of fetid electricity and burned his senses completely away almost instantly. Almost because he could taste and smell and feel it just long enough to be imprinted by it. At first he thought it was purely the infection he tasted but with a smack of his lips as he pulled back he could feel it was his Blood curdling against the wound that caused such a foul taste. At his very core he felt he was congeling and that his heart was racing to evacuate gelled blood from its chambers only to fill up again. He make a choking noise against the wound, he dry heaved, and finally felt his entire body tense and jerk wildly.

 

Elias made a horrified noise, sound being about the only sense not taken from Armand, and as the elder vampire turned to look at them he could see his vision was blurring as well. Oh damn, now he’s done it. His hand shot out towards Elias and they jumped away, leaving him helpless and swaying, but even in that moment he couldn’t help but feel a little pleased they’d learned to fear him. Armand fell to the ground and all things went black.

 

* * *

 

With each page flip Daniel looked up expectantly, unable to hold back a grin, as he watched Oscar’s white-blue eyes dart down the page of MAD and squint with laughter. He’d read that magazine dozens of times already and knew it cover to dog-eared cover. He’d spilled coffee on it, dropped cigarette ash in it, left the stains of airplane food, but something about the tired jokes and articles he’d memorized brought on a powerful calm. So long as he was reading it he wasn’t buckled into a cramped taxi with Armand boring holes into the windows as they devoured a new city. He wasn’t collapsed over his knees on the toilet with a bucket between his legs to catch vomit as he recovered from a night he’d forgotten already. Life for him recently was either soaring peaks of sensory overload, hours of blackout exhaustion, or MAD magazine, December of 1976.

 

But now he also had _them,_ and watching Oskar read through it with slow concentration was the new calm in Daniel’s life. They laid out like cats on the bed cover among an upturned bag of Daniel’s belongings, tape recorder clicking as Daniel covered his smile with a cupped hand and watched Oskar silently mouth each word he read. The interview was going well and Daniel was so fascinated by the child vampire he’d already forgotten the anxious inspiration to record him while he could, before Armand yanked him away. He’d also forgotten it was an interview.

 

“How does… _We’re Off to See the Wizard_ go, Daniel?” Oskar asked with a pinched face, his lips drawing to one side.

 

Oskar was reading a musical parody of _STARWARS_ , where popular songs had their lyrics cleverly altered to tell the blockbuster’s story instead. Thanks to Armand’s penchant for theater, music, and film Daniel was more than familiar with all of the songs MAD was riffing, and he uncovered his mouth to sing. It was hard to start because they were both grinning already, but he did his best.

 

“Weeeee’re off to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of Oz- We hear he’s-a whiz of a wiz- If ever a wiz there was!”

 

Oskar’s head jerked left then right, lips curling up as he tried to follow the nonsensical sounding lyrics, and Daniel lost track of himself and began repeating ‘Because, because’ far longer than the song called for in a loop, leaving Oskar writhing on the bed in a fit of playful frustration. “Stop, stop!” He chanted in time with Daniel’s repetition.

  
“Come on! You know that one, don’t you?” Daniel pressed, wondering if Oskar considered himself too old to enjoy something like _The Wizard of Oz_. He certainly wouldn’t have admitted to that at twelve; even though the songs were ingrained in his head Daniel remembered twelve being a time where admitting a fondness for childhood made you ‘uncool.’ The boy swayed back and forth and didn’t answer, his cheeks were pink.

  
“You know, Armand knows _all_ the words. Not just the songs,” he said, changing the subject and capturing Oskar’s attention again. “He has different movies that he’s really wild for, but it was one of the few he had seen before we met.”

  
Armand had managed to see it in a theater, Daniel’s family watched its annual broadcast on CBS for as long as he could remember. Early in their more peaceful meetings Daniel had thoughtlessly whistled ‘ _If I Only had a Brain_ ’ while wasting an evening people watching at the Plaza de Cibeles square. Armand’s eyes snapped to him and he could remember the amusement in them as it wasn’t often they shared memories of the present century. He explained to Armand if he wanted to watch it with him they were going to do it as the Molloys did. They were going to wait until it aired in November, sit in front of the TV, and enjoy it together.

  
“And if we miss it?” Armand had asked pointedly, perhaps annoyed by the rule, more likely seduced by the ritual of it. Well they would have to wait a year, Daniel explained, and watch it when it aired again.

  
Oskar came around finally and grinned as he spoke. “I’ve… I’ve seen it, but I don’t really remember much. I was kinda little.” Funny to hear that from a kid, that there was a time when they were somehow smaller than they were now, but Daniel recalled the same urge to distance himself from having once been single digits. Despite the thirst for blood and grotesque transformations Oskar was still very much a boy his age.

  
It seemed the mention of Armand piqued Oskar’s curiosity as he was thumbing through the magazine without paying much attention to it. After a bit he gave the magazine one final look before closing it, glancing all around the room first as if Daniel could not see him hesitating and thinking, before indulging in asking another question.

  
“Does Armand _really_ like movies?” His tone implied Armand couldn’t, that he was above them or otherwise unable to enjoy them.

  
For a moment Daniel became the reporter again. “What makes you feel he can’t?” He paused, realizing the volley had put Oskar on edge with an unhappy knit in his brow, and changed his approach. “He kinda likes them too much, if you ask me.” Daniel’s words were playfully emphasized with a dramatic roll of his eyes and Oskar visibly relaxed. “But seems like he enjoys just about anything you put in front of him. Wants to know all he can about it. Movies but also machines and people, sometimes, too. He even goes to class, just to learn and study.”

  
Oskar’s head stooped and his eyes narrowed. “Really?”

  
Daniel nodded, “Oh yeah, and if he can he’ll bring me along to learn too-” Dragging a leather notebook close Daniel looked at Oskar and began tapping on the surface. After a few lines Oskar recognized the Morse code and his expression brightened. “He took me to learn that a while ago. Almost forgotten it now but Armand is still sharp as a tack. He remembers everything.”

  
Oskar’s smile changed and they both realized at the same time Oskar had been talking to Eli this way while Daniel was in the room.

  
“Earlier, with Eli,” Daniel began, putting on a placating expression even though Oskar was already turning a little pink, “I didn’t even realize you two were talking until after. I won’t eavesdrop, honor.” Oskar shifted, maybe getting over the feeling of being discovered, and Daniel gave him a moment before continuing. “I remember you giving Eli the sheet of paper with the code, from the kiss,” he explained with a tap to his lips. “That was clever of you to do.”

  
Oskar smiled to himself, one corner of his lips pulling up as he glanced about. “It was nice to show Eli something useful.”

  
Daniel felt his stomach flutter, Oskar’s affection for the serious little vampire almost infectious. “I bet, you became better friends because of it.”

  
Oskar smiled lopsidedly again, eyes still not meeting Daniel’s. “Yeah,” he said breathily, “We’ve been showing each other useful things a lot now that we’re on our own together.”

  
“So you’re even closer now because of it, huh?”

  
Oskar nodded, eyes fixing to a point in the bedspread beneath the both of them, recalling something in private. After a while he spoke up, shifting the subject. “There are somethings Elias does better than me, somethings I do better now that we’re vampires together.”

  
This was the topic Daniel was most curious about. How had their dynamic shifted now that Eli had turned him? And what kept Eli from hesitating? He went with the latter question first.

  
“When Eli turned you that was… The very night you both ran away, right?” Daniel asked, the memory of the event shared through Elias’ kiss. “Why didn’t you wait?”

  
Oskar tilted his head and thought about his answer. “I dunno. We didn’t see why not once we ran off together.” Or maybe they weren’t old enough to make good reasons yet, Oskar did abandon everything he knew for the life he now lead. It was like running off to join the circus. Daniel swallowed, he wanted to think that at twelve there wasn’t a single permanent decision he could have made, but Elias and Oskar decided on the lives of other humans nightly. Maybe he needed to be a vampire to understand.

  
“So, what were the reasons to do it then?”

  
Twiddling his fingers across the pattern of the bed spread Oskar hummed and answered as the thoughts came to him. “Mostly so we could stop having to use the train and fly instead.” Daniel almost laughed. That was a pretty fair reason, if any. “But also because my birthday was going to be soon. I didn’t want to leave Eli behind at twelve.” His eyes met Daniel’s for the first time in a while and a smile spread evenly over his lips.

  
Twelve together, forever.

  
“That and…” Oskar looked away again, a more serious expression coming to his face. “There are things I can do for Elias that they doesn’t like doing for themselves.” A knot of resentment tightened in Daniel’s throat. He wondered if Armand didn’t bother turning him because, unlike Oskar, he had nothing to offer his maker afterwards. It wasn’t Oskar’s fault, of course, and so he kept the ugly feeling from surfacing in his words.

“What do you mean by that? Like brushing your teeth or-?” Daniel asked this wanting to sound curious and chipper, but Oskar was gravely silent and a peculiar emptiness came to his expression. A ghost appeared in the frozen pools of his blue eyes and he looked ravenously hungry. Maybe the mask had fallen away to reveal the hunger that had always been there, hidden only to protect the mortal in his company. Daniel stiffened on the bed and felt the short hairs stand on the back of his neck . He remained on edge even after the ghost left and Oskar returned to his demure appearance.

 

“No, Elias can do that just fine even if they forget,” he began softly, adjusting himself so he was laying on his side and mirroring Daniel. “It’s that Elias doesn’t like to kill all that much.”

 

The prickling feeling down his spine returned. He didn’t want to ask this question, not with Oskar’s eyes on him now instead of drifting about. “And… Does that mean you do?”

 

Oskar shrugged one shoulder, squishing his cheek against it. “I guess I do like… Killing. Just a little, you know?”

 

“No, I can’t say that I do. What do you mean?” Daniel swallowed hard.

 

“It’s part of being a monster.” He answered quickly, looking a bit fed up by Daniel’s inability to understand. “It’s the way it is, I have to like it a little, don’t I?”

 

Daniel wasn’t sure how to follow up. Neither Elias or Oskar had mentioned diminished emotions since being turned and their memories felt as rich and human as his own were. The transformation Armand’s kind went through apparently destroyed inhibitions and allowed them to do the unspeakable and joy it, but these children had to will themselves to murder. In the lapse of an answer Oskar continued.

 

“We like to kill other killers most, but it is hard to find them here.” He pursed his lips to one side and then squinted at Daniel as he geared up to ask him another question, one more direct that he likely believed only the American reporter could answer.

 

“Aren’t there a lot where you’re from? I’ve got clippings of all my favorite American murderers,” Oskar continued, familiar and confident with his topic. “It seems like everyday there’s a new serial killer over there. Maybe Elias and I would eat really well if we went

 

* * *

 

 

When his senses returned to him it was not all at once and they returned in steps, much like when he'd lost track of them. First sight, blurred at the edges in a way he had not known in decades. Nothing but a grimy window impossible to make sense through. After several blinks Armand could grasp that he was laying on his back in a small, dark room. There must have been a window somewhere as the ceiling was lit by faint yellow light, bouncing up from a spot on the floor no doubt. His head felt bolted down and even rolling his eyes about in their sockets felt like a great effort. Only able to see to his immediate right and left, Armand waited patiently for his other senses to return, having plenty to mull over in the meanwhile. Namely, whether or not he was in danger and just how much danger Elias was going to be in once he was back up on his feet to chase after the little devil.

 

Sound leaked in, as a ringing first, the lapping of water, and then the deep thump of movement all around. Music, people dancing and laughing. The room was beneath some kind of event or, more likely, some open invitation to drink at a house party full of tourists getting a taste for Venice. His sense of smell came back afterwards, which was far more enlightening than he’d expected. Damp stone, bitter mold, the canal, and blood. Of course blood, he was fine tuned to it and unless several hundred feet up in a clear sky he could taste it in nearly any space a mortal had ever been in, but the strength of it implied a large sum within the room.

 

He tried tilting his head around this time and with a grunt of effort felt his body unlock from paralysis and his face fell to one side. The floor was stone and not more than two meters away was Eli, making shadows with their hands upon the wall opposite them in the light cast from the window. It was a good thing he’d picked that direction over the other for he could not move it again afterwards. The movement attracted Eli’s attention and when they looked at Armand he felt he’d done a huge favor to them by waking up.

 

“Armand!” They whispered, coming to their hands and knees and crawling over. Up close Armand could see the source of the bloody smell was Eli. Not only was there the blood running down their chin from feeding but their hands were painted in it, hands now patting down Armand’s chest. The relief on their face from seeing Armand respond slowly melted into an expression rarely pointed at him, but one which he was secretly very fond of. Reprimand. “You scared me half to death!”

 

Their full mouth frowned and those dark brows knit close, eyes glancing all over his face to check for signs of life. “Hello? Can you hear me in there? Blink for yes.” Armand managed to do so. He had no idea what expression was on his face and felt more vulnerable for it than he had over anything else in centuries. “I see speech fails you? Well, good, then you can hear me say how stupid you are and not interrupt.” A small hand waved at the air and then they scrunched up their features. “No- No, you’re not stupid. But you do have no sense. When I said ‘don’t do that’ you go off and do it.” They sighed and sat down on their bottom directly beside the other vampire, shaking their head.

 

“I thought maybe I had killed you,” they muttered, frowning deeply at him. “And what would become of things then? Do you think I said not to drink because I was simply unaware and afraid..?” Stunning is how Armand thought Elias looked staring down at him with disappointment, so suddenly and so powerfully he couldn’t even wish the idea away again. The impulsive thought tainted his mind and without even the power to grimace he felt his heart quicken in the presence of this confounding and terribly lovely being. “No, and you should know better than anyone of that. What do we fear, at our age, but things we’ve had all this time to ponder. No matter our breed.” They hiked one leg over the other and set their elbow against their knee to better rest in the crook of their arm. “I’m all too aware of the risks.”  If the ability to move had come back to Armand he did not know, for he was much too busy facing a side of Elias he would have never expected. He’d become a fool as of late. Too many video games, maybe.

 

“It’s also why I was so sure about meeting you. I had considered the risks before, the danger to myself and Oskar, but now that I have you-” Armand felt his body try and jerk free again at those words to little more than a click within his throat. “-I can’t let this meeting end too soon. We have yet to understand one another, hardly even begun...”

 

They tilted their head curiously at Armand as he began to struggle for control of his body, trying first to breathe and then move his lips until he was able to hiss. After a few more minutes of practicing under Elias’ patient gaze Armand sucked in another breath with assurance and was about to speak when Eli cut him off, smiling.

 

“You might need blood, the untainted kind,” they smirked, eyes looking towards some unseen entrance to the room. “Can you do your magic again?”

 

Armand was not yet strong enough to hold his breath and had lost it in a cough. He took in another, nice and slowly. “Yes,” he wheezed, unfamiliar with weakness and frustrated he could not inject his thoughts directly into Elias’ skull. Eli sat back and watched the door, though their eyes occasionally flicked down to Armand, somewhat interrupting his process. “What is it?” Armand asked after too many false starts.

 

“Are you sure you’ll be capable in this condition?” They asked incredulously.

 

“Capable enough. Though what my condition is I’m not entirely sure.” Armand sucked in another difficult breath. “What exactly happened?”

 

Now Eli was gulping down air and sighing as if speech had abandoned them too. “You went like,” they used their free hand to gesture a something tipping over, whistling as it soared towards the floor. “Crash. Completely limp.” Now their hand was rubbing at the dried blood on their lips, rolling it into crumbs which they brushed off their cheeks. “Once I tossed you out of sight I had to take the man onto a roof and tear him to itty bitty pieces.” That explained all the blood. “He’ll go off like firecrackers in the morning sun.”

 

Elias explained the rest in a kiss, skipping back in time, only minutes after the mutilation, to show how they’d taken Armand onto an private dock with an open threshold. That was right, no entering buildings uninvited, wasn’t that the case with Eli and Oskar? Armand felt his own weight on his shoulders as well as the panic racing through his veins. Despite knowing he was going to be okay he felt Elias’ fears in real time, running him ragged around the city, looking for a safe place to stow him away before fretting over whether or not he could fetch Daniel and leave the defenseless other-Armand, real-Armand, in a hiding place.

 

When they parted he felt the urge to rub at his own lips and with relief his fingers twitched to life and rose- only to crash land against his cheek. But progress was progress. Elias, relaxed, reached down to right Armand’s hand against his chest and then curled into themselves, looking towards the door again.

 

“So are you going to make them come again? How?”

 

“How do you think?”

 

Elias’ brow furrowed with concentration. “A whistle, maybe?” They shrugged. “A dog whistle for… Crying people.” Armand wanted to say they were close, but he was unable to spare the breath to do so.

 

“After,” he grunted, “I’ll explain after.”

 

Elias moved to a corner, pressing their back to the wall and hiding their hands, as Armand took his time sitting up and drawing mortals closer. Not only was he unable to control himself physically but his use of the Mind Gift had diminished as well. The air became like fog around him the further his thoughts drifted away, his sight becoming distorted as if about to faint once more. Difficult or not he did persist and while his way to placate the humans nearby was a bit more like a salve than precision injection, it worked perfectly fine on a gaggle of drunks.

 

“Oh! Here he is!” A woman called over her shoulder while exiting the boat house and entering the porch. “Antonio, my God! You’ve missed half the party already!” She was incapable of speaking without giggling and though intoxicated blood wasn’t ideal it would do in a pinch. “Someone help me drag him up, come on-” Armand didn’t like being helped onto his feet by humans barely upright themselves, but all he needed was a few little drinks and he would be fine. A nip here, there, especially when a rather burly man tried hoisting him up.

 

“You’ve lost weight,” he said, huffing and puffing fumes thick with liquor. “Come up for food, it’s your sister’s party, what are you moping on the dock for?” The more blood he drank the more fluid and precise his dance became, alcohol involved or not. It was by and large an improvement to laying on the floor. Armand climbed down from the man, letting his hand linger over a bite, one nicked finger sealing the marks his fangs left. Patting the fellow’s barrel of a chest he shook his head.

 

“No, no I think I’ll turn in,” Armand placated, his italian impeccable if a hint old fashioned. It took a little more easing to make the crowd return to the party, a few promises, and above all the concentration needed to mask his appearance in the minds of others. He did not at all appear like the tall, tan brother of the party’s hostess, but he saw enough of the man in the memories of his friends to mirror him. Mostly, of course, which is why the alcohol helped. When they were alone again Armand gave no indication of relief besides brushing off his clothes with a few targeted sweeps. Elias peeled themselves from the wall, looking to the door as they approached Armand in case someone returned, but once in front of him their gaze fixed upon him expectantly. Their eyes shone like an animal’s in the dark.

 

“Have you figured it out yet?” Armand asked with an edge of amusement. Now he was hoping Elias did so on their own.

 

Elias shifted their weight from one leg to the other, appraising Armand and the prior moments with the dock had been full of people Armand whispered around, biting here and there. The jug fastened to their hip scraped softly against their pants with each thoughtful bounce they made, jostling their brain for an answer. “It’s not mind control, is it?” They smirked, so certain it was a ridiculous notion. Armand said nothing, holding back any joy he got from watching realization dawn on Elias’ horrified face. They turned their head to look at him sideways, impossibly serious expression on their childish face. “No… Yes?” Their eyes narrowed suddenly, arms crossing over their shallow chest defensively. Armand knew the reaction.

 

“You think I would have waited if I had the chance?” He asked, smiling now. “If I could you and Oskar would have already torn one another to pieces. Or walked into the depths of the sea.” Elias still appeared suspicious so Armand continued. “Try as I might you and Oskar both are immune to it.”

 

“To what. What do you call it?” Elias’ words were short, on edge.

 

“We,” Armand corrected, letting Elias in on a secret of his kind, “call it the ‘Mind Gift’.”

 

“So the man in the alley, the party go-ers, you told them to come?”

 

Armand nodded, pointing to Elias’ empty plastic jug. “And I will call another. They will open their veins without a question right into Oskar’s lunch pail.”

 

A very strange look came to Elias’ face, their lips tensing as if sucking on their teeth to hold back a smile, but their eyes were completely blank. Deer in the headlights. Armand didn’t have the time to place the expression it before Elias underwent another shift. They calmed. “Wait, before that. How do you pick? You can control them, yes, but how is it you know what to say? And how come they don’t have to die?”

 

Armand looked at Elias this time to answer.

 

They took in a big breath, he could almost hear them thinking how stupid what they were about to say sounded. “Mind reading? And your bite, it’s not tainted, is it?” Elias almost shook their head but paused and a smile spread. “I want to say ‘that’s impossible,’ but…” They gestured to themselves. “Have I the right?” Now when they were scanning him Armand felt appraisal in their eyes, which he didn’t really enjoy. The more Elias figured out the less he wanted them around and considering how little he appreciated their company in the first place Armand’s tolerance was approaching non-existent. And yet.

 

Eli’s inquisitiveness was familiar to Armand, it reminded him of he and Daniel’s own proclivities. Try as he might he could not wholly dislike Elias and Oskar without condemning aspects of himself and his beloved, which frustrated him enough to justify keeping them around. Until he had the perfect reason he wasn’t going to smite them just yet. Also, after his debacle with Claudia and Louis he could not imagine Daniel still liking him if he picked off a few more children without sound logic. And these weren’t even ones that belonged to Daniel. Such sensitive morals in the present century. 

 

“Yes, with the Mind Gift I can hear their thoughts as though they were my own.”

 

Elias’ brows went up and they nodded. “So, sometimes cloudy?” Small hands pantomimed a swirl of thoughts around their head before falling to their sides.

 

“Yes, dark and cloudy, even daydreams. Wordless, ones nothing more than impulse- All of which serves me well when looking for particular victims.” He stopped and watched this information wash over Eli, who’s gears were spinning so fast in their head he could almost hear them. “And no, my bite isn’t quite so toxic. To be turned is much more complex than a little nip. I can drink from a victim and leave them the unremarkable mortal they’ve always been…”

 

Elias’ jaw dropped. “No death? But the man before, what about him?” The words were somewhat afraid, Elias too genuine to mask their emotions, even in the face of a being who would manipulate them.

 

“Oh, him?” Armand asked cooly, nodding towards Elias’ clothes and the blood still upon them. “He wanted to die. But also I can find the people who _should_ die.” Armand reconsidered his words and then clarified. “At least in my opinion. Those who maim and kill not because they must but because they simply like it.” His shoulder went up, he was feeling silly having to explain this as if he ever needed justification for it from anyone but himself. “Human monsters.”

 

“And that is how you live? Like a superhero?” It was hard to tell if Elias’ tone was mockery, they still appeared to be reeling from the reveal of _psychic abilities._

 

“No, not entirely. I live by destroying any like me who draws too close or hunts on my territory.” Armand wanted to bite his tongue for revealing that. Why couldn’t he stop?! He was beginning to get irritated with himself for overstepping his own boundaries, redrawing the lines so that there was room enough for Elias’ inclusion. He blamed it on the blood of the party go-ers, this was all only because he was drunk.

 

Of course he wasn’t but at the time Armand felt a little better for thinking it.

 

“...So, Oskar and I?” Elias had gone still again but Armand saw now it wasn’t entirely in fear. Not so with them both knowing a bite from Elias would knock Armand out again.

 

“Like I said,” Armand emphasized each word, “If I _could_ have, I _would_ have. Thank your powers, thank Daniel, thank whoever it pleases you to thank that you were spared.”

 

“But you know we don’t want to fight you, not _really_.” They sounded very much like a kid then, pleading with him.  “We want to understand you, yes, and maybe it means we have to come close for that, but please- This Mind Gift, if I could have it-”

 

No, out of the question. He didn’t even want to hear the rest and threw his hands up between them. “Enough,” he said gruffly, turning on the dock towards the canal, ready to leave.

 

“No listen-”

 

“No, _you_ listen.” Armand appeared before them, causing Elias to jump nearly a meter back, but with his hand now wrenched in the front of their shirt Armand had them shackled in place. “It’s mine alone. Letting you know it exists is more than I’m even comfortable allowing. You don’t know how thin the ice is that you walk on, child.” Eli wrapped their hands around Armand’s wrist and wriggled about but eventually went still, pouting up at him with sadness too cutting for a child’s face. When they spoke up again it was only because Armand allowed them, not having the will to verbally lash something so already hurt. Killing Elias then would have been preferable to kicking them while they were down.

 

“You must know,” they muttered, voice knotted in their throat. “You must know how _fortunate_ your powers are or else you’re a greater idiot than I thought. If I could be you…” Elias shook their head, eyes tracked to Armand's. “I would not be so useless to Oskar. I could kill and not-” They struggled here and Armand’s brow pinched. “-hate it. Not wish I were dead after every single victim.” They deflated completely, head hanging. “No, that’s not true, I’m glad to live even if it is-”

 

This was too much for Armand, Elias’ agony was infectious. “You can **not** be me,” Armand growled, wrenching Elias closer by the shirt. The balance had shifted again, he was not the starry eyed boy lying prone on the floor anymore, and because of that his generosity returned. “But, so long as you are in my company, it is nothing for me to call near willing victims. Nothing whatsoever.” Elias looked up at him cautiously.  “ Frankly, if you are so miserable existing, I suggest you greet the sun. But Daniel is so… very fond of you two- it would cause me more trouble to leave you in pain than spoon feed you every night.” He let go of Elias’ shirt, the neck now stretched from his rough yanking.

 

Elias didn’t appear to understand what he was suggesting yet and stood their ground, confusion thick in the air. “Spoon feed?”

 

Armand turned and headed out from under the private bay, taking to the sheer canal walls and climbing to the roof of the loud party as Elias scrambled up after him, calling out still. “Armand! What is that? What is spoon feed?”

 

“It means,” he started with an aura of ritual, almost bowing towards Elias as he reached down to help them onto the roof from the side of the building, “I will be drawing your victims near while you are in my company. Only the very worst I can find, of course, so that you can placate your tired sense of morality.” Armand sighed, patting them on the head. “You have it much worse than you even know, Eli. I was rid of that mortal crutch ages ago.”


	5. Playing House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel gets busy during the day and a bit of Oskar POV happens this chapter.

Daniel checked his wrist watch. 3am. Morning was a few hours off but he realized in the gap of Armand giving him a definite arrival time there was room for his absence to plant the seeds of paranoia. Oskar had given up on the magazines and now was seated against the pillows of the bed with his back on the headboard, attempting to look invisible. Daniel, on his side and idly matching the turns of a Rubix cube with the clicks of his tape recorder, recognized Oskar’s detachment well. He was nervous too. Likely for the same reason.

 

“Show me how to do this?” He asked, turning to face Oskar and extending his hand out with the rubix cube perched in between his fingers. Oskar had given it to him already solved, saying Elias was a fan of the toy, and in the the following minutes Daniel had managed to twist its solid walls into a smattering of colors that blurred together when he tossed it upwards with frustration.

 

“Actually… Elias knows this one better,” Oskar murmured, eyes averted and keeping his hands clasped together at his knees.

 

“Ah, ‘kay, cool-” Daniel sighed, turning away again and taking to toy with him. “Well, when Eli’s back I’ll ask.”

 

“Yeah, when Eli’s back.”   


Daniel looked to him again, stealing as much time as he could to study the nerves racing beneath Oskar’s sullen expression, and wondered if Oskar also imagined Eli or Armand entering the bedroom alone, blood covered and sicing themselves on whoever was left in the ‘other’ group. That said, if Eli could take on Armand then Daniel had no chance against either one- But Daniel knew if Armand came back alone, maybe even with a trophy of his victory hanging by black hair from a white clawed hand, he would have thrown himself between Armand and Oskar so that one might escape and keep on existing. What was the worst Armand could do to him for disobeying? Scold him? He certainly couldn’t kill Daniel, not unless he was ready to die as well.

 

Daniel blinked the heady thoughts away and felt sobriety magnify his fears. His mind was really going somewhere, he severely needed a drink.

 

But a drink felt out of the question, something about being hammered around a twelve year old didn’t sit right with him, vampire or not- After all, Armand gave him plenty of reasons and if _his_ kill streak wasn’t enough to scare Daniel off the drink there wouldn’t ever be a body count high enough. In the case of Eli and Oskar, he knew just enough to know he had no clue what to _really_ be afraid of yet. It could be a second set of jaws to rip his face off or worse, having to act his age. So, until he knew what he was really avoiding, Daniel would suffer every sober moment til then.

 

Oskar was curling in on himself again and Daniel realized he had to be the bigger person, frightened or not. He rolled closer to the boy and prodded at his knee with an outstretched hand. “Hey, do you wanna jump out and scare Eli and Armand when they get back?”

 

Possessed with mischievousness and a lack of foresight, Oskar looked up from his laced fingers to grin lopsidedly at Daniel. There was no hesitation which Daniel took as a good sign.

  
“Hah, uh, yeah-” Oskar murmured, his voice as small as his posture was attempting to make him physically. “Like behind a door?”

 

“Sure, behind the couch maybe?” Daniel altered the location a little, thinking that popping out from behind a door might make them easy targets for a punch in the gut. This inspired Oskar to get up from his spot on the bed, rocking himself forward and back until he had enough momentum to escape the pillows, and head towards the living room. Oskar’s gait was really awful, he walked around like he was glancing blows, completely hunched over and with his hands tucked close to his chest to defend himself from anything coming at his head. But he turned and smiled and maybe Daniel had misunderstood Oskar’s attempt at sneaking. He held a finger to his own lips and hissed behind it, mimicking the posture of a cartoon spy as he tiptoed behind Oskar from the bedroom out into the seating area. Oskar mimicked Daniel. They stalked circles around one another and the furniture, hissing back and forth until they were nearly frightened to death by a metallic scrape from the window.

 

Actual fear propelled them both over the couch and they squatted face to face, staring at one another with large, fearful eyes. Daniel held his breath and felt his heart begin to race. Imagine Armand’s surprise, being greeted by a ‘Boo!’ from Daniel and Oskar while he picked brain matter out from under his nails at the window sill. Immediately his mind thought to spoil the fun. If Armand were there he was surely looking for Daniel with his mind and so he began to chant to himself ‘Act surprised! Just act like you’re surprised!’ in the hopes Armand might hear.

 

When he heard two muffled voices- “Daniel?” “Are they out?”- Daniel jumped up almost with relief, letting out his best rockstar crow and signalling Oskar to do the same. Oskar did not yell, but he did set after Elias immediately, who might have been very familiar with a game of chase based on how they bolted from Armand’s side, laughing huskily through the suite. Armand stood there with his hands on his hips and disbelief on his face.

 

“What are you doing?” He asked without appearing to recognize that Daniel was still trying to inspire playfulness in him. Daniel, hiding any disappointment by changing the game to ‘smother’ instead of ‘catch’, threw his arms around the impossibly solid Armand and grit his teeth as he rubbed the both of them cheek to cheek. “So help me God if you don’t cut it-”

 

“Geez, Boss-” Daniel laughed to vent his nerves, loosening his grip and more tenderly rubbing his nose through Armand’s windswept hair. “I’m happy to see you, alright? Let me give you a welcome home for once.” He wanted wrap his hands around the too cold and too stiff neck, feel Armand depart from rigidity and grant Daniel the luxury of turning his face so their lips met, but Armand denied even this small reprieve and Daniel felt the nerves attacking him again. He was sent a short message.

 

 _Their bites are_ **_toxic._ **

 

Daniel pulled back to question Armand who appeared, he couldn’t believe it, alarmed. “And how would you know?” Daniel volleyed back, suspicious that Armand had tried to hurt Eli and learned that in the process. In the other room Elias and Oskar were playing cat and mouse around the bed. In the granted privacy Armand turned to face his lover and Daniel felt the familiar presence in his mind of Armand sharing a vision.

 

“Nice guess, but no,” Armand whispered as he cupped a hand over Daniel’s ear and then whispered into the other with cold lips brushing near his unkempt sideburns. “I’m innocent this time, I swear.”

 

Hard for Daniel to believe without proof, but just as he claimed Armand _was_ innocent. Daniel felt his vision black out in time with Armand’s after he tasted the infected bite and once completely disconnected from the vampire he blinked his eyes free of spots and exercised his face a bit to loosen up again. Brows arched, furrowed, eyes squeezed shut. Daniel slapped at his own face and nearly battered Armand as well but he leaned back to avoid the blow.

 

“What the fuck?”

 

“I know.” Armand said wryly, drawing away from Daniel and crossing his arms “If I drank more I might not have woken up for… Days, perhaps.” His eyes scratched at the corners of the sitting room, dwelling on something Daniel couldn’t begin to imagine. He wondered if Armand said that to convince himself he was still immune to death, avoiding the evidence of a toxin that might kill him.

 

“Alright then, you know how we solve this, do you?” Daniel could have spoken for hours on the topic, but with everyone’s nerves raw he figured it was best to nip any drawn out conversations in the bud and call it a night.

 

“No, enlighten me.” Armand stilted, looking to Daniel with the nearly imperceptible tilt of a small bird’s head.

 

“Don’t ask for love bites.”

 

Armand’s marble face scrunched in like a car crash at the words. After freezing in place for a second, life returned to his expression and he voiced his displeasure. “Do you think I need to be told not to indulge in such a vile act? Disgusting, Daniel, absolutely revolting.” He was unable to keep from smiling.

 

“See? It’s that easy you idiot,” Daniel teased as he moved to rejoin the kids with Armand, to his delight, trailing along behind him. “Not even a nibble, got it? You might like reenacting _Jaws_ with me but keep the kids out of it, Bruce.” That must have amused the predator because he skipped close to Daniel, moved onto his tip toes, and nipped his flat front teeth against the shell of Daniel’s ear. He spun to Daniel’s front, gave another devilish look, and turned away again while humming the familiar movie’s theme.

 

Giving a shiver like he’d just escaped death, Daniel came into the bedroom after Armand and saw that Oskar was seated upon Elias’ back as the they lay prone and defeated upon the bed. The plastic jug left Oskar’s lips as he finished off the last of the blood brought to him and when he opened his eyes Daniel could see a brief transformation between narrow slitted pupils to normal round dots. Red seeped out along the cracks in his lips, blooming from the boundary between wet mouth and dry skin, which Oskar licked clumsily away. He sucked on his lips a few times and the tension behind them implied he was working every drop he could into his starving system.

 

Daniel watched with fascination and glanced away to Armand for a moment, wondering if Armand got the same sense that he did from the situation, that these vampires had to put much more manual effort into their survival. Cleaning one’s teeth, washing blood from the skin, those were things Armand didn’t have to do as if every inch of his body was like a sponge to blood, practically wicking it off the surface should it splash upon him. Daniel’s attention returned to the children and he saw that Elias had keyed their eyes upon him, painfully aware of the constant surveillance they had one another under. Fatigue was setting in after days of exploration and the boundaries between them were forming with each new piece of information. Now the agonizing testing of those boundaries would begin and the real challenge would be pressing hard enough to understand each other's limits without breaching them.

 

Daniel felt exhausted already. If Armand pressed Eli and Oskar as hard as he pressed him… He shook his head, trying to banish the doubt. For as much as he knew about Armand he didn’t know everything, and he knew even less about the figures of fascinating power newly adopted into his life. Daniel clung to hope, to the promise of surprises, and that these two might rise above all expectation and be… What? Worth all the suffering he had gone through somehow? He couldn’t begin to measure what that was, what even the lowest of his expectation could be so early into their meeting; but he could stick it out until those questions were answered. Then he’d know if it was all worth anything at all.

 

Recentered and refreshed, Daniel broke the silence with unexpected domesticity, asking Oskar for the jug so he could rinse it out in the bathroom sink. “In the meanwhile,” he began in egress, “You two pick through your clothes and find something that roughly fits, alright? While everyone is sleeping tomorrow I’ll get you two clothes you can wear around outside. We’d stick out too much if Armand and I looked alright while you two are in rags.”

  
Armand made no objections to this plan which was as close to agreement as Daniel ever expected from him.

 

There wasn’t a word from Eli and Oskar at first, Daniel could almost see their puzzled faces as they looked to one another for an answer, and when Eli piped up Daniel was unexpectedly happy to answer the question posed.

 

“Wear around outside? Why?” Eli paused and from their distant reflection in the mirror Daniel saw their eyes draw towards Armand. He wasn’t going to answer, Daniel knew, and soon Eli would know too.

 

“That’s cause we can’t only spend time around each other in here, right? We can go out, you know, and have these same conversations at a park or museum.” Daniel smiled at the mirror before looking over his shoulder and through the door as he poured pink tinged water out of the jug.

 

Oskar spoke and Daniel saw a lack of amusement on his face at the offer. “People are looking for me,” and by the somber expression on his face Oskar didn’t want to be found. “If we’re outside and someone recognizes-”

 

“You don’t have a clue, do you?” Daniel could not see him but Armand’s voice rang out like a bell. “You don’t have to follow their rules anymore. Not a single mortal tenant has dominion over you.”

 

“But,” Elias countered, “We look like children, there are things we simply cannot do.”

 

“Is that all it takes to stop you?”

 

Daniel re-entered the bedroom and could see Armand was smiling and, worse, it was reflected in his voice now. The kind of condescending superiority that only struck him when he talked of mortal dogma.

 

“Out run the ones who chase you, out live the laws that bind you. While you may never grow up you will neither grow old.” Armand’s arms uncrossed and he came towards the bed in smooth steps unhindered by any law, even physical ones, to sit on the edge of the bed. “And of course if you can’t manage it I surely can. While you’re in my company you will be dressed, well fed, and undisturbed by those unlike us.”

He didn’t look away from the children before adding: “Daniel excluded. He is allowed to disturb you, you owe him that much.”

 

All three vampires were seated on the bed now like a plush pit of deadly serpents. The children were venomous vipers and Armand was obviously a keen constrictor. Elias slithered out from under Oskar’s bottom, kneeling between the two. “And in return?” Armand looked to Daniel for an answer, amber gaze scorching the air with its infernal fire. This was his pet project after all, he was the one who let them in and now he had to deal with them.

 

“Same as the last couple nights,” Daniel spun his index finger in a circle, winding back the hands of an invisible clock. “We talk. We play. Right? We see if there is anything we can learn from one another.”

 

“We hang-out.” Oskar smiled, became bashful, and then his lips tugged sheepishly to one side “you know, for a little while?” Pleading boyish voice. Daniel had felt Eli’s concern for the isolated and bullied Oskar, he understood how impossible that request might have been for either child to make. Oskar was speaking for both their sakes.

 

Daniel smiled and he gave an age-appropriate toss of his head. He was the second youngest in the room, after all, it was only fitting he try to connect with the boy closest in years to his own. “For sure, we gotta get Eli and Armand in on it next time, though”

 

* * *

 

 

The kids were receptive to order and Daniel could not recall an earlier instance of Armand respecting a “bedtime”, but with short order the three immortals parted for their rest at Daniel’s instruction and he even managed a bit of sleep himself before mid-morning instinct drew him back to life. He laid back, thinking of how the night ended with Armand’s kiss at the window and his low, smooth voice. He wasn’t as tempting, as maddening, and he held back the Blood so as to not torment Daniel before bed while their newest acquaintances were about. Armand had been _sweet_ to him. Perhaps for the first time ever.

 

“Sleep well, Daniel,” he cooed like a dove, “Tomorrow, we can play ‘House’ together.”

 

Daniel wanted so badly to believe that Armand would play along. He pressed his forehead to Armand’s and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling that high register come to his voice when his rationality was stretched too thin. “No playing, not you and me. We have to be real for this.” He stammered, gave a false start, spoke clearly again. “I want what we do to matter to them and to make things better.”

 

“Is that why you haven’t been drinking?”

  
  


Daniel opened his eyes, looking for an answer in Armand’s face. Could he tell by dipping into his mind what a real reason was? “I mean, I guess so.” Things were feeling very real, almost too much to handle without a constant haze to swim through. Not a drop of alcohol had touched his lips since the night Oskar flung him into the canal. Days later his nerves felt rubbed raw and in any lull of activity he felt fish hooks in his skin, dragging him towards the numerous bottle of liquor stashed away. Now that his mind was on the topic the hooks sunk deeper, dragged harder, and whispering underneath the needful bleating in his brain was a seductive offer. A drink before bed- a little night cap wouldn’t hurt anyone- he could even drink until he felt suffocated and choked himself to sleep, then he might feel better.

 

Armand’s thoughts interrupted the shadow’s. _You don’t have to listen to that, but should you, I will love you all the same._ Funny, he usually agreed with it.

 

“That’s almost worse, right?” Daniel laughed, relieving the pressure on his forehead by leaning back. “I could… Really ruin things, Armand.” The vampire stared at him with unflinching affection.

 

“Try not to, then.”

 

Once alone Daniel weakly dragged the trunk half way into the bedroom as Eli and Oskar washed their faces before bed. Catching sight of Daniel struggling, they picked up the heavy luggage effortlessly between the two of them and even tested out where they wanted it a few times before positioning it so it opened away from the windows. Not needing their gifts rubbed in his face, Daniel washed up as well, brushed his teeth, and finally settled on tired looking a KISS shirt which greatly amused Elias. They gave Daniel devil horns and a wagging tongue of approval, which was almost a worse reaction than he expected.

 

“You don’t think they’re a little cheesy?”

 

“They ‘Rock’ Daniel, it’s universal. Besides, it is you wearing the shirt.”

 

Were they imitating Armand or were all ancient vampires the same kind of weird? Either way, Daniel broke into laughter, which was never a good sign before bed, and with the flip of a switch they all crawled into their respective beds and chattered for several minutes more, everyone trying out their worst Gene Simmons impression.

 

Daniel woke up not remembering when he’d fallen asleep and after those few minutes recalling the night before his eyes adjusted to the curtained room. Everything in his vision was grey and snowy, his eyes struggling to make sense of color in the low light as he dressed. Curiosity got the better of him, as it often did, and before he left the room Daniel crept up to the trunk and lifted the lid as softly as he could. He was thinking before he opened it how he could lie to these vampires and not get found out; but the concept was so unfamiliar after his years with Armand he actually paused midway through the act. Would he lie even if he could get away with it? Probably not.

 

Daniel opened the trunk all the way and looked in. Through crackling darkness he saw Oskar and Eli at the bottom of the trunk, arms wrapped about one another in their sleep, peaceful faces pressed cheek to cheek. They were completely still but not entirely limp as Armand could be, it looked like at any moment one of them could shift for a more comfortable position. Not only that but they seemed to be holding one another instead of posed like lifeless dolls, a detail that made Daniel blush with embarrassment. Had he interrupted something? It hadn’t occurred to him until that moment that the reason Oskar and Eli were so physically close wasn’t entirely out of fear, but intimacy. Love. He’d even seen it in Eli’s vision how their companionship came to be but having spent the last several days afraid for their lives he realized now that he had been projecting. Bashfully he shut the lid and paced about for a bit, trying to take from his invasion something more than a secret before it dawned on him and he was able to leave the hotel with a clear mind.

 

Not too long after finding himself on the streets of an obnoxiously sunny Venice Daniel was window shopping at a clothing boutique and trying to tell from the exterior if they had children’s clothing before going in. He had enough of Armand’s money crammed into his corduroys to lubricate any problems the language barrier might cause, but he also wanted a game plan before heading in. It would be best to get them plain looking clothes, dark to blend in and hide blood, but after seeing them so tightly wound together Daniel wanted to grab them clothes that they might like to be seen in by one another. But where did he begin to guess not only the tastes of strangers but of their taste in each other?

 

He loitered around outside the store front a few moments longer before plunging in, leaving nearly an hour later with three bags in either hand and a significantly lighter wallet. Carrying so much proved to be a blessing in disguise as he walked back down Calle delle Ostreghe, past the restaurants with bottle service and shops with liquor lined up like a crowded crown of jewels. There was no way he was going to drop everything, literally, for a drink. He broke out in a sweat thinking about it and before he knew it Daniel was back up in the room, taking all he’d learned from Armand’s meticulous outfit planning to lay out several smart outfits for Elias and Oskar.

 

And he was unhappy with how uncool everything looked. If Oskar and Eli were anything they were radical, each one needed something more pint-sized killer and less prep school. Leaving the clothes where they were Daniel left again, sun high in the sky, and began stalking through the streets of Venice where every turn felt like the city was breathing in and out. Large plazas with umbrellas gardens, kiosks and performers, the tight streets Daniel had to suck his stomach in to squeeze through. He’d changed from agreeable clothes to an outfit he was far more comfortable in though infinitely less put together. Sunglasses covered the worst of his sleepless eyes but his threadbare ‘I ❤ NY’ shirt and torn jeans spotted with this and that evening with Armand said everything else for him.

 

It wasn’t long before someone just as worn, just as young as Daniel, materialized out of the throngs of people to bum a cigarette. She wore a hand screened black shirt with a tiger screaming across the front of it, beside her was a couple of other ghouls less interested in cigarettes. Daniel offered the group up a larger bargain. Some of their studded cuffs, a shirt, necklace with a pentagram- Whatever they were willing to lose he’d replace with a stack of cash. He saw every pair of eyes narrow with suspicion til he started thumbing bill after bill in his hands and then the clothes came flying off. The first gal sat there with nothing on her top but a bra, her pale stomach folding on itself as she sat on the edge of a bridge, counting what was in her hands.

 

“I’ve got a shop, too.” She said in accented English and with a tilt of her jaw back the way Daniel came. “You wanna come? See if there is more for you to buy?” Daniel looked over his shoulder, knew far better than to say yes with a bunch of cash in his pocket, but feeling rudderless he agreed. The rest of the group lingered behind or left to get dressed again as Daniel left with the woman.

 

A few hours and a couple drinks later the sun was beginning to set and he really needed to hurry back. So sorry _gattina_ gotta run. He soothed the woman’s spurned advances with a simple line, ‘My kids are waiting for me,’ and with a casual smile like she had somehow dodged ruining a marriage or family the woman booted Daniel out with several of her other hand made shirts. He wasn’t stumbling drunk but the sun was beating down on him disapprovingly, making the heat radiating off his body even worse. He felt sick drinking on an empty stomach and decided to dip into a little corner shop before heading back for a loaf of bread to tear into. It was during this mini shopping trip that something caught his eye and for no other reason than pure curiosity he snatched it up and paid for it along with the bread roll. Hoping to tap into both Armand and Elias’ interest in puzzles, as well as the puzzles that were their own minds, Daniel tucked the game of _Guess Who_ beneath his arm and returned to the hotel.

 

No more drinking. He was going to head to the hotel, shower, brush his teeth so many times he would taste toothpaste forever, and that was the end of it. It was too risky to drink around so many monsters and even in the daylight he began to trot as if they were snapping their fangs behind them. Daniel ran and felt his heart racing to keep up, sweat was quickly sprouting on his warm skin, every breath stank of alcohol and felt heavier than the air around him. He was running for his life again and it was the best he’d felt in years.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oskar? Are you awake?”

 

He took in a sharp breath, something Elias said would fade once he’d woken up from ‘pausing’ after a few lifetimes, and then sighed. The air in the trunk was already growing warmer now that they were both breathing again and he unhooked his arm from under Elias’ to rub at his eyes. “I’m up.” His voice was hollow, vocal cords dry from resting and with another deep breath his lungs crackled loudly.

 

“Want to go out?” Elias’ played make believe piano against Oskar’s shoulders where they held him. Oskar could feel a bit of tension in their grip and with a jerk of his lips to one side tried to play if off like he didn’t feel exactly like Elias did.

 

“Not yet.”   
  
“Goody.” Elias’ breath was warm against his face. They both hugged tighter until there was no room between them and their hands gingerly pet up and down the other’s back. Fingers dotted patterns in a mix between Morse code and grooming. It left a fuzzy feeling deep in Oskar’s head and he felt his heart beating quickly with joy, a common effect Elias’ affection had on him. Now that he was like Elias he could feel the effect on them, too. Their heart raced just as fast as they embraced and prepared for another evening with the new vampire and his human friend. Feeling a bit devilish Oskar nuzzled to the left of Elias’ face and placed a kiss on their cheek, squeezing them right after to feel their heart beat faster in response.

 

“You like me.” Elias said, teasingly.

 

“Anyone would, but you like me _back_ ,” Oskar returned. “I think that says more about you than it does about me.” The two of them laughed in the now humid space between them.

 

“Guilty as charged…” Elias went quiet for a moment and turned so they were pressed cheek to cheek, looking up at the lid of the trunk. “I think that… It was me who liked you first.”

 

“No- It was me-”

 

“Oh yeah? When?”

 

Oskar’s lips pursed to one side again and out of habit he licked at his upper lip. “When you asked if I wanted to give you a present for you birthday. The second night we met I thought- You know… That maybe I would give you whatever you asked for because you looked like you’d never take it for granted.”

 

“Oskar!” Elias stage whispered their response. “What a terrible time to feel that way- You know I meant to-”  
  
“Eat me, I know.” He licked his upper lip again and sighed. “Now I know. What about you? When did you discover you liked me?”

 

Elias was quiet for a moment and Oskar’s anticipation grew until he felt it might burst. “When you shared the Morse Code with me and… That night you bid me ‘Sweet Dreams’-” Elias tapped the message on the lid, rolling their head to rest it against Oskar’s shoulder. “I don’t know why that was what did it but it did. I knew then that I… Wanted to hear you say it to me every night, if you could.”

 

Oskar’s chest felt like a warm bulb surrounded by thousands of fluttering moths. Their beating wings tickled every nerve in his body as he smiled in the glow of Elias’ light within him.

 

“We are… So cheesy.”

 

“We are.”

 

“Also,” Oskar said as he sat up, “ _I_ **_was_ ** _first_.” Opening the lid with his eyes still on Elias’ he watched their blown-out pupils contract elliptically before going round. They both climbed out one after the other and as Oskar was picking at his borrowed pajamas Daniel entered the room. He tried to smile at the man, lips tugging left and right, but was arrested by the genuine interest he constantly radiated. Oskar had never felt so paid attention to. In Daniel’s presence he felt like a movie star and he was still familiarizing himself with the idea of a stranger wanting to know more about him without explicitly needing to.  Much less someone as old and, well, interesting as Daniel.

 

Beneath the dome of dirty blonde hair that constantly needed brushing back behind his ears was a brain full of answers to any question Oskar could ask. He knew more about Oskar’s favorite rock bands than he did, and those Daniel admitted to only ‘sorta liking’ so his knowledge of the ones he loved must have been encyclopedic. Daniel showed Elias about a dozen knots off the top of his head their second night together, giving them a lesson on when they could best be used to do things like securing a load to the top of a car or keeping a victim incapacitated. Not only was he good at those things but he never bragged about it and, even more appealing, he always seemed happy to share. What he didn’t know he promised to find out, appeared excited to be made to do homework. It was a little weird at first, Oskar had to admit, because he’d never known adults to be all that excited about anything. Maybe that was just how Americans were, though.

 

“If I can’t tell you Armand probably can,” Daniel answered when Elias asked for the finer detail of currency exchange as they picked over money collected from their meals. “Actually, defer all money questions to him. He’s the one with any sense about it.” Daniel dismissed everything he had told Elias about the money they had found as somehow _not enough_ in one little sentence.

 

“...If you know all that and don’t have any sense what does that mean for us?” Elias questioned. They were much more forward than Oskar, but as guilty as Daniel of diminishing themselves. The two lacked any measure of self worth.

 

“Oh, well. I mean, you guys are-” he paused, looked at them as if he was going to say ‘kids’ and then stopped. “You’re new to this stuff. You’ll pick it up. I’m the one who should know better.”

 

When Daniel came into the room their fourth night together Oskar felt even more perturbed by his warmth than before. He was fresh faced, showered, and probably well fed as Oskar could pick up the stench of cooked food from the other room. “You guys ready for a surprise?” Daniel asked with a mock-serious face.

 

What more could there be? In such a short time Oskar felt rejuvenated and nostalgic all the same; he was finally being seen like how characters in books saw one another, validated in a way he was familiar with but had never himself experienced. His face warmed up and he tried to banish the heat away, not wanting to blush in front of someone like Daniel.

 

Elias reached for his wrist and tugged, their face blank save for very round and excited eyes. Surprise, yes.

 

In the other room, staged upon a bellhop’s trolley Daniel had brought in, was a rack of new clothes and a hat box with the lid shut. Daniel went to the side of the trolley and pushed it towards the lounge and coffee table purely for the performance, grinning at Eli and Oskar before he gave a final ‘Ta-dah!’

 

“For us?” Oskar asked as Elias ran a curious hand over all the items.

 

“They sure as hell aren’t my size, check them out guys, c’mon,” Daniel wrung his hands together almost more excited than Oskar was, but Elias had them both beat, quickly shuffling through one end of the garments towards the middle with large, apprazing eyes. They yanked a black shirt with a tiger in white outline off the rack and held it up first for Oskar to see and then against his chest, their smile transforming privately.

 

“Bitchin’.”

 

Oskar felt his face heat up. Despite months of time together Elias’ affection always fired a fresh arrow into him. There was almost nothing new between them now that they had lived so deeply in one another’s memories through their gifts, but every kiss was as fresh as the first. As if to fatally wound him with affection Elias set back the shirt and pulled down another, a sweater, and smoothed it against Oskar’s shoulders and arms.

 

“E-everything is so nice, Daniel-!” Oskar piped up when he could no longer stand to focus solely on Elias and their precision laser of affection. “Did you… Pick it out for us yourself?” Nodding as he came to join Oskar, on the opposite side of the clothing rack, Daniel picked out a few of the more general items like plain polos, dresses, and slacks to explain himself.

 

“Yeah, which means if something isn’t your taste you can tell me, but I was thinking it’d be best right now for you both to have kinda… Low-key outfits. Dark ones to help you blend in at night.” Putting the clothes back he ran both hands through his chin-length hair and held it all against the top of his head. His expression was pensive. “Hope it all fits…”

 

Whether or not the clothes fit was an easy fix, Oskar felt, meaning that expression was probably about more than Daniel let on. To placate the adult Oskar took down a jacket and slipped it on over the clothes he was borrowing from Daniel, going through the motions one did in a new outfit. The familiar twist at the hips and the long glance down his shoulder, clasping the two sides of the open garment and closing them tightly over his form. It was performative, everyone relaxed at the little dance before joining in. Elias was a bit more forward, yanking down their pants beneath the dress-length shirt and jumping into a pair of fitted pants. Daniel’s brows went up, probably happy he was on the other side of the rack, but he didn’t banish Elias or Oskar to change elsewhere.

 

“Whatcha think, Eli?” He asked, hands coming out of his hair to rest on his hips.

 

“Good, a little loose though.” They said softly, pulling up their shirt to see how the slacks sat at their hips. Daniel came around to their side this time and went to his knees, batting around in the hat box at the bottom of the trolley for a belt. The box was a bit of its own treasure trove from what Oskar could see and when Daniel busied himself with dressing Elias he knelt down to look through it himself.

 

Belts, socks, underwear, typical utilitarian items, as well as rings and jewelry that made Oskar think of the older teens from home who went out in dark costumes to see concerts in the city. These were the items that transformed oneself in the night. He picked up a leather cuff, imbued with the power of all things mysterious, and felt unworthy of the mantel when he snapped the cuff on and saw that it dangled loosely from his thin wrist. He gave it a testing shake before realizing Daniel was staring right at him, looking heartbroken.

 

Oskar worried that he’d made the wrong expression or let his own disappointment disturb Daniel when Elias plucked the matching cuff from the box and gestured for Oskar to hand his over. Uncuffing both bracelets they snapped them together end to end and then put the ensembled piece about Daniel’s neck.

 

“Look,” Elias grinned, “Vampire defense jewelry.”

 

Daniel cracked a smile and appeared rejuvenated for the time being. For a moment he’d transformed into someone like Oskar’s mother, fragile in the face of disappointing her child, but now he was warm again and unhurried in their play. He managed to get the both of them changed out of their clothes when Armand arrived at the door, a large leather duffle bag in his hand. As Armand took it into the bedroom without a word of greeting Oskar caught sight of Elias tapping Daniel for his attention out of the corner of his eye. Armand called for the both of them as Elias and Daniel spoke privately, so Oskar went on ahead to leave the two alone. In the bathroom was Armand in front of the sink with the duffle open, pulling out a smaller case that looked like a doctor’s bag. Inside were two large glass decanters with a diamond pattern criss-crossing the widest part of the both of them in a band. The interior of the carrying case was black velvet and when Armand pulled one of the glass bottles out Oskar saw it was filled nearly to the stopper with blood.

Armand inspected the glass carefully, swirling it by the neck before gently setting it down on the counter. There was an ‘O’ etched on the neck in the center of a cameo which meant the other certainly had an ‘E’. The jugs they had been using were probably long gone and this was Armand’s replacement for them. There was a set of surgical looking blades as well as a sharpening kit in one of the side pockets, the other side a stainless steel funnel and a glossy black tube Oskar first thought was meant to go from the funnel to the bottle but realized it might have had a better use tying off a person’s arm to make their veins pop up from the skin. Armand had spread all of this out and seemed ready to explain it when Oskar picked up one of the knives and tested the edge against his thumb nail. Sharp, but it could be sharper.

 

“Do you know your way with this?” Armand asked, his voice devoid of curiosity. Oskar cautiously looked up at the ancient vampire. Armand’s expression was completely level and his amber eyes were focused on Oskar’s hands holding the knife.

 

“Y-yeah.” A very confident answer, well done, Oskar thought. “Enough to get what we need.”

 

Armand looked up to the mirror, towards his own reflection, and nodded. His lips pulled into a smile and Oskar saw his cheek dimple as if it had been carved into the marble of his skin. “We will find a way for you to practice. In the meanwhile…” Armand gestured towards the decanters. “Have your fill. See to it the kit is clean when you both have eaten and it will be filled the next evening.” Oskar blinked, realizing Armand had given him, of all things, a _chore._

 

Elias appeared right after this instruction and as Oskar drank the still-warm blood Armand went through explaining the bag and their chores again. Elias reached into the velvet lined bag and made an inquisitive noise. “It’s warm in there.”

 

“Correct. The bag is lined with a heating element, it has a battery which will need replacing when it runs out.” Armand stopped and gave a very expectant look at Elias before his attention turned to Oskar. He gave a small shake of his head, as if to jostle something free in their minds, before Oskar answered how he thought Armand wanted.

 

“We’ll remember,” Oskar promised, even though he knew there might be one or two times when they forgot to turn it off and the battery ran dry, “Thank you, Armand-”

 

The vampire moved too quick for Oskar to even flinch, all he felt was a hand against the top of his head. Behind the soft petting Oskar felt power that could have flattened him into the floor like a pancake. It seemed the both of them were rather surprised by this as Armand’s dimpled smile had disappeared, replace by a blank canvas. “Good, take care of it.” Armand’s voice sounded further away all of the sudden as if he had withdrawn to another place. “And when you outlive the current technology please replace it. I can’t have you wandering around with obsolete equipment.”

 

Armand left the bathroom as Elias and Oskar ate and performed their new ‘chores’. The quality of the blood was fantastic and drinking it warm was without comparison. Upon returning to their new clothes Oskar saw Daniel was fiddling with a number of plastic pieces at the coffee table.

 

In minutes Daniel had set up, of all things, a game of _Guess Who?_

 

“Unexpected find,” he said, pointing at the two opposing fields of faces. “Figured maybe you two would get a kick out of playing.” He pointed past Oskar at Elias and Armand, who then looked at one another. Two creatures snatched from time, playing a game that pitted their minds against one another. How would they all fare? The two of them did need Daniel to explain the game but both did so once they were already in place in front of their respective line ups. Things were looking up if both Elias and Armand agreed to play without much resistance.

 

The board was two sets of 24 cartoon portraits featuring friendly looking characters like ‘Rita’ and ‘Bob’, each set facing one of the players. From a deck of cards with the same 24 faces as on each other's boards Elias and Armand drew card one a piece. The game was to guess which card the other had. Did Armand have Claire with the hat or Phillip with the unfortunate beard?  “You guys take turns asking about the other’s card, only ‘yes or no’ questions,” Daniel emphasized, “And you should ask ones that could apply to a lot of the characters in front of you. Who ever guesses the other’s card first wins.” They would keep track of this by knocking over the portraits of the characters who didn’t fit the description they gathered from each question.

 

Daniel demonstrated that he might ask ‘Does your card have a hat?’ and if the card featured someone with a hat you were to knock down everyone without one.

 

Oskar was perched on the couch watching how Daniel’s jovial nature battered like a rain against a window, both vampires consumed with enthusiasm that radiate like heat off their bodies but with no outward indication that they were having ‘fun’. It was as if they were about to perform surgery and not play a children’s game. Daniel moved to the couch as well when he gave up on reaching either vampire and watched with Oskar as the two of them stared searchingly into the sea of faces before them. There was a false start and Elias asked for the instructions once more but when both players settled into place the mood of the room changed considerably. Oskar looked to Daniel, wondering if he felt the shift as well, but he was smirking and patting at his jeans for a cigarette.

 

Elias went first, Armand saying they needed the advantage, and the question that came out of their mouth was unexpected to say the least.

 

Looking at the brightly colored and completely innocuous faces of the cartoon cast, Elias calmly asked, “Has your person broken more promises to family or to friends?” Oskar looked at Daniel again, who’s confused expression was a mirror of his own. While hoping for reassurance in Daniel’s face Armand answered without missing a beat.

 

“Family.”

 

“Intriguing,” Elias replied, reaching out to flick down three of the pieces.

 

“Guys, that’s not a ‘yes or no’ question-” Daniel tried to steer the game but both of the players stared him down. Daniel raised up both hands in forfeit, turning away. “Alright, alright. Play it your way, then.” The players looked glad that Daniel ceased his meddling and went back to the game.

 

Armand’s question was up. “Does yours look like they’ve killed a person?” Daniel groaned audibly.

 

“No,” Elias said after contemplating the picture in their hands, “But they wish they did when they had the chance.”

 

Armand steadily went down each row, scrutinizing the cards before him with wide, unblinking eyes, before he flicked down nearly half of his board.

 

“Excellent question,” Elias said with a smile, Armand taking the compliment with a small bow of his head. “And for me… Does your character believe in a benevolent God or a jealous one?”

 

The game ended when Elias guessed correctly about Stephen, a god fearing man who lied more to his family than his friends and who hoped selfishly to die before his spouse than suffer life without them. Or, more obviously, he was a man with red hair and a mustache. This set the pace for the evening. Elias and Armand played over and over to their own constantly changing ruleset, of interest was a round where they challenged the other to guess who their card was murdered by, a _Guess Who Done It?_ variant.

 

Oskar and Daniel were talking about leaving the hotel for a bit to look for cassettes since Daniel was rapidly running out of tape when, in the middle of another game, Armand made a sudden announcement. Or maybe not so sudden. The way Daniel reacted made Oskar believe they had spoken about the topic before.

 

“If you would accept the offer,” Armand began first to Elias and then involving Oskar with a glance. “I can have you both brought to our home in America.” Elias sat up from their slouched position and looked pleadingly at Armand, full lips slack and their eyes testing him, promising anger if he dangled such an offer only to yank it away.

 

Perhaps Armand saw this just as Oskar did and sought backup from Daniel, looking to the human and placing a white hand upon Daniel’s knee. “We will give you a place to return to in the day and more than enough room to hunt…” Amber fires glowed deep in Armand’s skull and, for once, Oskar could feel warmth in them. “No one will come looking for you there and, even if they did, you will be safe with us. You will have places to sleep, to read, to play. Considering a training ground for your immortality. 200 years is not so old, Elias, there is plenty you can still learn with me.”   


“For how long?” Elias asked, glancing back and forth between Armand and Daniel.

 

“As long as _you_ wish,” Armand answered affably. “I have more than enough resources to provide for the four of us indefinitely. Should you leave it will be of your own accord. You may find life easier in America as a blood drinker.” He smiled and gave a toss of his russet curls. “It was for me.”

 

Oskar couldn’t believe the offer at first- Actually no one looked like they had expected this, least of all Daniel. The mortal leaned forward towards Armand, who was sitting on the floor by the coffee table, and kissed him on the cheek. Oskar’s own cheeks warmed up at the sight of this. He wasn’t sure what Daniel and Armand were to one another, part of him had thought Daniel was an employee meant to work for Armand in the daylight, but the kiss and how they looked at one another afterwards… It was unmistakable. All at once Oskar felt completely and utterly transparent to Daniel, any question he had, any doubt, could be soothed through Daniel’s experience. Elias had said Armand could read minds, but Daniel lived something Oskar was only beginning to understand in himself: not just living with a vampire but _loving_ one. Oskar felt Elias’ hand reach for his and squeeze tightly. Everyone looked about at one another after the display of affection, a wordless understanding blanketing the room, before Daniel smiled sheepishly and turned towards the kids.

 

“You guys are gonna love it!” He said with jittering enthusiasm. “I promise!”

 

And feeling like there wasn’t a single thing that could ever come between himself and Daniel, Oskar wholeheartedly, naively, believed him. 


	6. Breakfast in America

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features underage intoxication in the case of Oskar, Elias gets drunk too but that's canon typical shit right there.

 

The evening after Armand’s announcement brought a great shift to the atmosphere of the hotel. What before felt like a long sleep-over evolved into a highly effective, obviously illegal, extraction operation. Daniel was on the phone and sitting on the floor among several phonebooks and pads of paper with an English-Italian dictionary in his hands. The phone was pinched between his cheek and shoulder, a cigarette similarly pinched between his index and middle finger as he held open the book. He had his glasses on though they were skewed from how roughly the side of his face was pressed down. 

 

“Yes- Yes an overnight flight-” he all but froze as he listened to the voice on the line, his other hand scratching at a pad of paper while Oskar sat in front of him, peeling an orange for the mortal. “Rome, Venice- either is fine- but we want to be taken straight to Miami. Hard deadline for 3 a.m., I have a meeting at 8 a.m. and- Oh? It’s faster to fly out of Rome..?” 

 

Elias watched Daniel’s work from their spot on the couch, curled up in the corner and feeling warm from the blood Armand had brought in that evening. Oskar soaked up Daniel’s words and, probably, the words of the voice on the other side. Elias could hear the advisor as well, emphasizing that the private pilots in their employ would not be a thrifty option. Daniel smiled, one brow raising. “Don’t worry about that. If you can chart this flight for me the price is your’s to make.” 

 

If there were any objections to Daniel waving around a blank check they didn’t come from Armand. He was bent over a writing desk in the sitting room, his face millimeters away from a fake passport he was meticulously forging. They knew this was the key to their safe passage across the ocean and into America. What Armand was making for them was a dream come true.

 

And just in time, really. Elias had planned to leave with Oskar that night. 

 

Oskar put an orange slice in Daniel’s open mouth as he nodded and ‘uh-huh’d at the receiver. Elias had decided to leave Venice well before Daniel and Armand were due. Oskar, they worried, had grown too attached. 

 

It wasn’t that Elias was jealous and wanted to keep things between the two of them, hardly that. No, it was more the issue Elias had with adults. The tear between Oskar and his parents was tempting to patch and, whether or not Oskar realized it, Daniel now had undeserved expectations put upon him. Elias felt this in Oskar’s words, kisses, in the glimpses they shared with one another. Oskar was beginning to idolize Daniel and Elias worried what the disappointment would do to Oskar when, inevitably, Daniel acted human. 

 

But then this development with Armand happened. Color Elias surprised, the last thing they had expected was for Armand to do a complete 180 and invite them into his home. He’d made it more than clear the night they went hunting that he was only tolerating them for as long as he had to and when his ticket out of Venice came they would avoid one another for eternity. That was fine by Elias. While neither stranger sickly desired Elias like their past stewards had it did not mean the pair were perfect candidates for an eternity of companionship. Elias made the best of a bad situation with the likes of Håkan. Their partner now was Oskar and he was all they needed, thank you very much. 

 

But America. That place could be a friend to them. From the tales Oskar told of the killers dwelling there he made the place sound like a vampire’s paradise. Americans killed one another for sport, to fulfill psychic needs, to show that they simply could. Surely there was room enough for a pair that killed to survive? Armand, after he extended the offer, confirmed as much. Blood was so rich for the taking that he literally funneled victims into his den and fed unquestioned. He built a monument to modern humans on his Night Island and when they came to worship he took tithe. Elias was completely baffled by the idea and quickly reminded themselves that Armand possessed the enviable quality of being a sterile vampire. Since his bite didn’t spread disease like Elias’ did, he could drink without needing to kill. Even the blood he fetched for them this evening had been donated, just as his meal at the party had been. Imagining an entire island dedicated to the support of a single vampire’s appetite had to be seen to be believed. 

 

And they would be seeing it soon enough.

 

Armand sat up from his trance and held up too identical passports, save the names and photos. The desk he sat at was organized but covered in inks and pens Daniel had been sent out to purchase during the day, as well as a camera Daniel had used to get portraits of Elias and Oskar with. Armand handled the entire process after that, familiar with the ins and outs of forged government documents. 

 

“You don’t live to be five-hundred without picking up a few tricks,” he said smoothly when handing Oskar his new identity before coming to Elias and giving them theirs. The document in Elias’ hand was way more than a trick, it was pure magic. Armand had not only matched the fine printed text but copied the watermarks and colorful forgery deterrents perfectly- all in a matter of hours. Twice!   
  
Oskar looked at his passport like it had spoken to him, his mouth slightly open as he flipped through all the pages with falsified stamps. Elias admired the little booklet as well and carefully read out each destination their alter-ego went on- Speaking of, who were they now?

 

Flipping to the front Elias smirked when they saw their new Americanized name. Abigail Ripley. 

 

“Evan Molloy?” Oskar piped as he inspected his own page, hairless face a cute knot of confusion. Daniel smirked but paid most of his attention to the continued flight chatter on the phone. Oskar got up from the floor and came to Elias’ side on the couch, they adjusted so the both of them could nest shoulder to shoulder and inspect one another’s passports. 

 

“Abigail has been all over,” Oskar said with a sigh, his own passport far less stamped.

 

“That’s probably because she travels with Armand Ripley,” Elias explained, feeling anointed somehow by being Armand’s fake relative. 

 

“Sorry Oskar, you’re a Molloy,” Daniel chimed in as he finalized a few notes and bent over a planner. “We’re cheaper, alright, don’t need a passport to visit Grandma every holiday.” 

 

Oskar laughed in time with Daniel but shifted in place like he was gearing up to speak out again. Elias could hear his lips smack as he wet them and deviled Daniel a little bit. “So is that an invitation, Daniel?” The mortal looked up from what he was doing with both brows arched high on his face. “Can we go visit grandma?”

 

Daniel gave a puff of laughter and made eyes at Oskar, “You bet. My family’s gonna love meeting the son I never told them about.” 

 

“Yeah- but! I can do tricks, that’ll impress them- You can tell them how I explode out in the sun!” 

 

Elias grinned and joked back, but they did not expect Armand to respond simultaneously. 

 

**_“Awful trick.”_ **

 

Neither did Armand, it seemed, as he looked at Elias after their synchronized response with complete disbelief. 

 

“All those centuries and the same canned response,” Daniel fired back, clearly dominating this mudslinging war of wits. “Not even a week and you’ve grown this close. Eli, you’re even looking a little taller.” 

 

Daniel and Oskar laughed and Elias relaxed as Oskar’s arms wound about their waist, but Armand stood where he was, his expression calm neutrality yet again. When Daniel finished laughing he did manage a smile, coming towards the seated mortal and kneeling down with preternatural grace. “How is the flight coming along, my pet?” He nested close to Daniel like how Oskar had fixed himself to Elias’ side and while they watched this interaction they felt Oskar’s heartbeat a little faster. The not-so-secret relationship between Armand and Daniel, Elias had to admit, was fascinating. Like Oskar, Elias thought Daniel was of Armand’s employ and made quick work of any business that took place during the day. In return Armand lavished Daniel with gifts, travel, treats to keep his human happy. Elias considered that Daniel was a bridge between Armand’s old world and the new one, much like Håkan and Oskar had been. The previous night cleared the murky boundaries between this strange vampire and his companion a bit, Americans weren’t exactly known for their platonic same-sex affection. 

 

Eli felt Oskar tense against their side, his gaze fixed upon Daniel and Armand. When he looked at Daniel did he see himself? Did he feel validated? Eli robbed him of this alternative future where he was the sunlit lover of a monster, but was their journey less harrowing now that they knew others walked it with them? Oskar’s chin settled on their shoulder and put to rest any nagging questions, Elias knew there would be more than enough time to sort through their feelings, it was better to be present. 

 

Not long after the passports were handed out Daniel gave several ‘thank yous’ to the phone and hung up with a great sigh, rubbing at his eyes before jotting down one more pertinent bit of information about their flight. Armand was still perched behind him, staring blankly at the back of Daniel’s head and animating only when the human turned to look over his shoulder. When their eyes met Armand’s expression came alive and he smiled with feigned impatience. 

 

“Well?” Armand asked on everyone’s behalf. 

 

Daniel glanced about and seemed to notice he was being watched by all three immortals but appeared wholly undisturbed. He must have seen more than any human ever had in the last several centuries, though Elias wondered if anyone could ever truly get used to such a thing. Looking in the mirror was such a dreadful affair and, for how beautiful he was, Armand looked a bit more like a store mannequin than he’d like to admit. 

 

“We’re going to Rome tomorrow night, night after we’re on a midnight flight to Miami.” Daniel tapped the paper he had written all of this information down on rhythmically. Armand, maybe pleased, squeezed his white hands on Daniel’s shoulders and stood without a sound. Daniel replied to something Elias didn’t hear, something that happened often, and must have been part of the powers Armand displayed before.    
  
“Sure boss, soon as we get there.” 

 

This didn’t leave Elias with the best feeling in their stomach, but it wasn’t as though Daniel and Armand were the only ones in the world capable of private, psychic conversations. They weren’t even the only people in the hotel room who could do that. He and Oskar could have entirely silent conversation with their lips pressed together- but it certainly wasn’t as stealthy a method as Armand’s. Elias gave him that, at least. 

 

With Daniel’s attention freed up Oskar dislodged himself from Elias’ side and shyly approached the mortal once more. He asked about the plane ride they were going to take and at first Daniel answered him plainly. Just a jet, nothing fancy. But it dawned on Daniel’s face that maybe Oskar was nervous and he changed from head to toe in an instant. Instead of stooping on the floor he sat up on his knees and pawed at Oskar to sit down, talking about the private jet they were taking and how they would be the only ones on it. Elias watched, warmth blooming in their breast, as Daniel traced his fingers over a map of the world, showing Oskar their possible flight path and explaining how they would fly with the night and not risk getting caught in the sun. 

 

Over hearing all of this created images of spaceships and tin cans hurtling through the air, but as Oskar leaned against Daniel’s shoulder and counted through timezone across the map Elias sighed with relief. Just because Oskar was enough for them didn’t mean they were enough for Oskar. Though both of them were still children Elias’ years phased them out of any true need for adults to guide them, but not Oskar, not just yet. Elias got up from the couch, leaving the two young men to find themselves in one another, and was surprised to see Armand watching the boys with a similar fondness. 

 

Coming close, but out of a friendly distance, Elias stood with their hands akimbo and gave Armand the thanks he was owed. “We are grateful for you taking us to America,” they said with a tip of their head in Oskar’s direction, “But I have to thank you and Daniel on Oskar’s behalf for… Something I can’t give.” Their eyes met as Armand took the opportunity to lean against the door jamb between the living room and bedroom. His expression was calm, but forfeited no acknowledgement of Elias’ gratitude. Then he spoke.

 

“Likewise, with Daniel. They both need someone of their time, try though they might to be immediately as old as their keepers.”

 

Elias was put at ease, though not entirely. ‘Keeper’ sat quietly in the back of their mind as they stood with Armand and watched the two modern creatures play and communicate in a natural matter. Armand’s fist was clenched tightly against his waist as if Daniel’s invisible lead needed a constant, vigilant grip. 

 

* * *

 

  
They were out of Venice and boarding in Rome before the week was up and the two new travelers made the process feel fresh to Daniel in a way it had not in years. How many flights had he taken now with Armand? Hundreds, easily, and several dozen of those came from the miserable stretch of time where Armand insisted they fly almost nightly, when the phenomenon first aroused his interests. He never thought that flying would regain some of its novelty but there he was with Oskar and Eli in the terminal to their private flight, trying on sunglasses neither would ever need again. Oskar was trying on circle shaped lenses with bright blue glass, nearly the color of his eyes, and contemplating his reflection. Elias was brazenly looking at a refrigerated cabinet of soda, putting on a show as if they were seriously considering a drink. They opened the case up and tapped a nail against a Coca-Cola bottle. 

 

“Don’t even think about it,” Daniel said quietly across the little kioski where they were all milling about. “Too much sugar, alright, don’t need you bouncing off the walls while we’re up there.” 

 

The cashier did not know he was supposed to applaud the performance so, once they were out of earshot and near Armand, Daniel gave his kids the praise they deserved. “You guys are naturals,” Daniel smirked as he divided up two equal stacks of brain teasers for Eli and Armand. “Almost like you were mortal once.”

 

Elias was fitting a neck pillow on their shoulders and Daniel heard them sigh at his joke, much to his own delight There was nothing quite like being made to feel uncool by a twelve year old. Actually, very little about the trip felt like anything he had experienced before. Shuttling Armand around during the clumsy years of his introduction to the modern world felt more like the education of an alien species than a human out of their era. Elias and Oskar were, for all their supernatural abilities, preteens. Elias one of several hundred years but still a kid, and one just as afraid of flying across the ocean as Oskar was. Daniel thought this was funny, given that both of them possessed the gift of flight, but he didn’t tease them about it just yet. 

 

They were headed towards a security gate, the final checkpoint where passports and tickets were examined closely, before they were lead to their private terminal. Elias and Armand made a cute picture together, holding hands and looking as uninvested in one another as any family in transit.  Oskar, however, was quaking. 

 

Earlier Daniel whispered to them how it was going to work as they picked up their tickets and went through with checking their luggage. He mimicked the comforting men and women of his own childhood, hoping to stave off any panic in the kids before it drew attention. Teachers, babysitters, parents. Roles Oskar was familiar with and with whom Elias played along, following Oskar’s trepidations or relaxing when he did. Armand never once showed the desire of being spoken to this way, often learning through Daniel’s mechanisms, observations, or corrections and objections. In fact, while Daniel was attempting to soothe Oskar’s nerves about being recognized in customs Armand calmly asked if all modern children needed their fears  _ explained _ away. 

 

“Are all contemporary parents as quick to comfort as you, Daniel?”

 

“You could say there are different styles out there,” Daniel replied from his position, kneeling before a quivering and unsure Oskar. 

 

“Styles?” Armand’s lips curled mockingly and he scanned the late-night terminal as if waiting for a runway show of these different family fashions. “Your altruistic effort is half as charming as you think it is, considering what you spend it on.” Daniel knew Armand was trying to remind him of Oskar and Elias’ nature, that they were blood sucking little monsters who didn’t need patience, but the joke was on Armand. All kids were like that more or less, some more literally than others. Daniel would get out of Oskar what he put in, so an ounce of patience and reassurance now would make the flight better for all parties. He rolled his eyes to privately admonish Armand’s cold words for Oskar’s sake, ruffling the boy’s hair and promising his safe passage.

 

“It’s alright to be a little scared of getting in trouble, but remember we don’t exactly… have to follow any rules. Customs in America is going to be a breeze with Armand.” Getting to their flight wasn’t such a big to-do and it showed on Oskar’s face that he expected a bit more of a process leaving Rome.He looked stunned at first, tugged his lips from side to side, and then looked up to Daniel with a conspiratory expression.

 

“They didn’t even blink..!” He whispered, absolutely elelated. Daniel wondered if Armand had to break out his powers then, trick the agents into seeing someone other than Oskar before them, but the vampire gave no tell. Either way Oskar became more like himself, trotting up to Elias with a lanky gait and tapping them on the back of the head to inspire a game of chase that was really an excuse to grab at one another. Preteens, typical. 

 

Now that they were in their private terminal Daniel sat back as Elias and Oskar bopped away from mortal eyes, watching as planes drove by or took off from the tarmac before gluing themselves to the window when Daniel pointed out the charter jet that they would be taking. Armand sat beside him working through the book of crossword puzzles Daniel bought him and physically struggled not to burn a hole through the paper at the speed with which he did them. Daniel worried Armand might finish it up before they even boarded, but he packed the booklet away after a dozen or so pages and placed his hand on Daniel’s thigh, palm facing upwards. 

 

They held hands until it was time to be escorted onto the tarmac and up into the plane. A Gulfstream Model III, top of the line and built to take them across the Atlantic, is what Daniel asked for and as they walked up the stair-car into the cabin of the aircraft he knew it was going to fulfill the needs of every passenger. It was spacious enough to keep the kids from getting antsy and luxurious enough to catch Armand’s interest. His glass nails danced across the top of a sparkling quartz cabinet, fitted with a coffee maker, ice machine, and wine refrigerator. Daniel watched as his eyes caught the flecks of glittering stone and knew he’d picked right. Daniel let the kids wander about, opening and shutting every drawer and window within reach, before he directed them towards the seats at the front of the cabin.

 

Since there were no other passengers and their luggage a manageable pile it meant take off would be in minutes. Really, once everyone was belted in and the stair-car driven away the pilot greeted the passengers with little more than a wave and wasted no time getting them to the runway. There were four total seats in single file on either side of the cabin, Daniel and Armand took the front two with Eli and Oskar in the second row. They looked more like soft recliners than the standard plane seats but they were of course fitted with seat belts and manuals about what to do in case of an aquatic landing. Elias looked at the manual, which is exactly what Armand was doing in the seat in front of them, so Daniel had to turn to check up on Oskar. 

 

The young man was chewing at his lips, tapping his hands against the top of his thighs and, above all else, trying really hard not to look nervous.

 

When Daniel turned to look over his seat he caught the way Oskar glanced at him and then snapped his attention towards the window, gingerly pushing the blind up as if he had not shut it moments before to block out the view. 

 

“Hey,” was enough to make Oskar look away from the window and to Daniel from under his fringe of white-blonde hair. “It’s alright to be nervous, you don’t gotta hide it. No one is expecting you to act like this isn’t a big deal.” 

 

“It’s only that I haven’t flown before.” Oskar murmured, lying for the first time to Daniel. 

  
  


“Sure that, but it’s also a bunch of-” Daniel took a moment to glance over his shoulder at the door to the cockpit, “-other new things, too. Me, Armand, America.” 

Oskar shut the blind and twiddled with his fingers. The jet engines started up and he jumped, his eyes glossy and wet as his stared at the cabin wall. 

 

“I think it’s the end of some things, too,” he said softly, hiding his face by leaning against the wall, “It’s just a lot of uhm… things.” 

 

His voice broke at the last word and his lips quivered as he went still. Daniel felt a cold pit form in his stomach and he resisted the urge to look in Armand’s direction. He could feel his presence in his mind, prying in to see Daniel’s thoughts like a silent observer. His anger flared, daring Armand to do something so typical, to be smug and belittle Oskar’s pain, to see him as little more than a fascination. 

 

But he said nothing and if he gleaned anything from the sight of Oskar through Daniel’s eyes he didn’t mention it. 

 

Within minutes after take off Oskar was out of his seat and listening to music with Elias on a couch that sat opposite of the quartz cabinet, their eyes glued to the windows. Maybe the bit of fear about take off was the mouthpiece for a number of private pains Oskar suffered. Once that scare was over the others shuffled politely to the back of his mind again. The flight was long but not boring, they had become fast friends after the game playing not too many evenings before. The puzzle booklets came in handy as Armand and Elias went head to head on a few challenging crosswords, Oskar and Daniel keeping score as they remained in a dead heat, tied five to five until Armand got stumped on a Roman numeral answer and Elias finished the puzzle with a huge lead. 

 

  1. Down, 4% of MDXXV



The answer was LXI, 61.

 

Daniel saw Armand smile at Elias and admit his defeat graciously, asking when Eli had learned the Roman numerals before admitting he hadn’t had a use for it in almost five hundred years. Elias explained they learned after entering a public library for the first time where they consumed an encyclopedia set, nearly starving in the process of sleeping there over the course of several weeks. Daniel watched the interaction with a warm, thumping heart. Daniel knew Armand was actually very fond of using Roman numerals in the coded messages of his personal writings and had lost so that Elias could explain their path victory, which was a win for them all. 

 

The hours ticked by, giving Daniel plenty of time to cycle through excitement, regret, and feelings of unreality that he and Armand were bringing home two vampire children together. Also a desperate need for a drink but he chalked it up to habit. He drank on planes, that was just what he did, not a major problem or anything. He wasn’t petrified without something in his hand though it did feel empty and oddly warm. Daniel settled with a glass of water, combatting the dehydrating effects of flying, and packed the thoughts of something stronger away with all his other doubts. 

 

Armand indulged in a rare nap, Oskar tried his hand at a wordsearch, and until the plane touched down Elias and Daniel shared the walkman, conducting to an invisible pit of musicians  _ The Planets Op. 23. _

 

When they landed the first thing Elias and Oskar did upon exiting the plane was cover their ears, looking out beyond the tarmac to the low trees and endless night sky with slack jaws and wide eyes. As they turned and looked about Daniel saw how their pupils shined, glowing like the eyes of animals just outside the fenses of the private airport. The shrill cries of a million insects electrified the air all around them and stirred disorientingly through the balmy air. Elias and Oskar tried not to look utterly horrified but they murmured to Daniel and Armand nervously to vent some of their pent up energy. 

 

“It’s hot.” “It’s loud.” “This is America?” “Where are the buildings?”

 

They seemed lost and confused, maybe a bit betrayed based on how little of ‘America’ was visible from the landing strip near Armand’s Night Island. No worries, they’d see a set of golden arches or a Wal-Mart and know exactly where they were. As such Daniel was calm and kept them plugging along at a steady clip, not wanting to waste any of the precious night time hours they had before getting home. While they had left Rome at 8pm it was only 2am on arrival in Miami as their plane had flown to catch up with the night. Nearly twelve hours compressed into six. Everyone but Armand seemed a bit woozy, but he was the only one needed at attention while they went through customs anyway. 

 

To Daniel it was a familiar blur, a bit more pressing with their new false relatives, but Armand could play mortals like a cheap kazoo and before Daniel could get too unnerved by this power they were reunited with their luggage and on the way to a private car that would take them home. Once outside the bugs were at it again with their constant buzzing but in far less numbers since the flora was manicured at the front of the airport. 

 

Elias blinked and shook their head with an amused expression. “The night is louder here than any I’ve ever heard before.” 

 

Armand, who had already flagged down their driver, placed his hand against Elias’ back and smiled. “It is loud, but louder still is your home with us on Night Island. You will come to appreciate the cacophony, it is the perfect armor for our kind.” The use of such inclusive language was not lost on Daniel. The second he had a moment alone with Armand as they threw their luggage into the back of the idling van he let the vampire know as much. 

 

Armand thumbed away some of a kiss from the corner of his mouth and smiled, pointed teeth running across his bottom lip before kissing him again. It would be a couple of days before they could share a longer moment alone together, but neither one complained. There wasn’t much time to fuss now that the four of them, whatever they called themselves, were together. Too busy pondering one another and glutting on all unlife offered them.   
  


* * *

 

The horizon past on the mainland was an electric neon pink and it’s vivid scream turned to orange, mellowing down to red, purple, and finally the greyish-blue yawn of night over the ocean to the east. Oskar had run out to see it as soon as the sun was gone and Daniel said it was safe for him to go out. Opening the white slatted doors to one of the west facing balconies for that last blast of light was an evening ritual Oskar had quickly established in the weeks after arriving on Night Island. There were many structured elements to their time in the resort, but it helped give each day purpose and a sense of urgency. Just because he was immortal didn’t mean time was meaningless. From the moment they came to Night Island Oskar felt like he’d arrived on a different planet. Everything about this world was unlike the one he had known as a human. Night  _ was  _ Day and Death  _ was  _ Life. 

 

The humid evenings started with sunset over the distant glitter of Miami and the bustle of music and mortals down below. Sometimes Oskar could awaken an hour before sunrise and bide his time within the secure walls of Armand’s massive home, exploring maybe half of a room at best given how densely packed each one was with art, books, gadgets, or experiments of Armand’s own creation. There were a few rooms Armand forbid others from entering with a simple lock, perhaps where he slept or kept something characteristically gruesome, but Oskar felt no desire to snoop. Not when there was so much more to see. There were rooms with express purposes like an office with a computer, a private theater, several large bathrooms, a kitchen, and even a closet larger than Oskar’s entire apartment back in Blackeberg. These rooms got an equal amount of usage between the four inhabitants and it wasn’t odd to simply wake up, see who was up to something interesting, and spend the evening together doing whatever started up first. Movies were a favorite of Elias’ and their tastes were just as varied as Armand’s collection was, but they didn’t seem terribly interested in sitting still for long periods of time and usually only managed one a night, if any at all. 

 

There was far more to discover. Down below was the front that mortals flocked to and it was just as much a treasure trove as Armand’s vampire citadel. At first Oskar had asked for permission to leave but both Armand and Daniel seemed perplexed at the notion. There was no need, after all skipping curfew would mean dying in the sun. Apart from a week or so for word to properly get around that Elias and Oskar were relatives of the illusive resort owner they were allowed to do practically anything they wanted within the confines of the resort. The densely packed island featured much of the same luxuries in Armand’s home but at a much larger scale. Theaters, restaurants, spas, clothing boutiques, perfumeries, night clubs, a casino, an arcade, indoor and outdoor pools, performers, and a hotel for guests to stay in- behind which Armand hid their home. This island paradise was where Armand’s flock gathered, where in the early evening he would take blood from the easily suggestible before sending them to a convenient on-site clinic. This would be Elias and Oskar’s meal on the nights they did not go out hunting with Armand and usually that meant these nights were entirely their own.

 

He had never known freedom of expression like he did there and with every night granted to him Oskar began to acquaint himself with the person he could be in the best of circumstances.    
  
He learned how much he liked to look at fountains and then learn about them in Armand’s expansive collection of blueprints for the resort. He discovered his fashion tastes were quite in line with Daniel’s when they would shop at boutiques, though it was debatable if Oskar liked the clothes for their own merit or because his new-found brother set the rules of ‘cool’ as any older sibling might. Oskar uncovered tastes and opinions he’d never had the chance to entertain back home and as each new experience added a facet to the lense of his perspective he could draw even more enjoyment from the past and appreciate it with deeper understanding than ever before. In a month he danced more than he had in his entire life and read as many books as he had in the last two years of school. What more, it stuck. Since becoming a vampire something had changed in the way he stored memories, they were far more vivid and he realized this when sharing a rare night away from Elias in a kiss. He showed the other boy an image of a dance club they had been too shy to enter before and where neither one wanted to enter with Daniel around, even if he was the one who encouraged them to sneak inside in the first place. Oskar felt the memory almost explode into reality in his mind when he shared it with Elias and he gripped their shoulders tightly to keep from jittering out of his own shoes. Before he had only shared memories of being a human which were clumsy and full of holes, almost like remembering a dream after waking, but now his memories were as loud and real as the moment they happened.

 

Once he finished reeling from the exchange Oskar shook the buzzing music from his head and immediately realized Elias’ human memories weren’t so… crummy as his own. Elias’ memories of being turned were so terrifyingly real Oskar had come out of them thinking he had been mutilated as well. But, then again, the memories of Elias’ mother by the stream, through the sunny cloth she was hanging up, that had been fuzzy like Oskar’s memories too.

 

“Why is that?” He asked as they both pondered the question afterwards, hoping to discover more about their shared existence in the process. 

 

Elias, who was sitting at the edge of Oskar’s favorite fountain, dipped their fingers in the chlorinated water and pulled their bottom lip between their teeth. “Maybe, uhm,” they began, lip popping out once more and looking a bit chewed on, “I mean I do sometimes wonder if because I’ve recalled it so much the entire memory became unreal. Which is worrisome. What if it wasn’t like how I remembered?” Concern flashed on their features as they looked to Oskar, fingers still playing in the water as mortals partied all around them. It was a hot ‘Holiday Season’ in America, but there were no traditions or costumes as far as Oskar could tell beyond going shopping and getting a sunburn. 

 

“You mean if it wasn’t as bad?”

 

“Yes,” Elias answered in a husky, guarded voice, quickly looking at their submerged hand once more. 

 

“I promise you, Eli, it was bad.” Oskar said with a big sigh, shaking his head. “Awful. You can’t… Make something like that up. You can’t forget it either. I don’t think that anyone could.” 

 

Elias looked up at him and they looked so sad, which wasn’t as common an expression in their face these days, but their sorrow melted slowly into something warm and familiar. Love.

 

“Thank you for believing in me Oskar,” they whispered. “Around you, here, in this time I feel like I can believe in myself again too.” 

 

Oskar didn’t know what to say to that and he looked to his twiddling hands as his heart pounded nearly fast enough to burst. Suddenly he was smattered in a spray of cold water and turned to see Elias with their hand in the air- They’d splashed him! After all that! His jaw dropped and through his damp bangs he saw Elias grinning. 

 

“I said thanks, okay! We can go back to the night now..!” 

 

Oskar rubbed at his lips and then returned the volley, splashing at Elias as they desperately tried to cover themselves from the water. “Oh,  _ now _ we can?” Elias returned fire immediately after, biting their tongue to keep from laughing. “Can we now? Now?!” Oskar ribbed, splashing each time Eilas returned one- causing quite a scene in the process. People turned to watch the two fight in the fountain a few moments longer before Oskar escaped into the crowd and Elias chased after. Oskar already knew he liked to play chase with Elias, but that evening he learned how much more he enjoyed being caught. 

 

On another night he learned a bit more than he bargained for about alcohol when Armand underestimated the drinking tolerance of three incredibly large, bear-like men and knocked both Elias and Oskar over with the over saturated blood of a career drinkers. It took maybe twenty or so minutes for the effect to truly kick in but by then Daniel was practically juggling the two of them on their way back from the arcade. Oskar felt like the earth was rising up to meet his feet, trying to trip him as if walking down an up escalator. Everything in his vision spun clockwise and then snapped back every second or so like his eyes were trapped on an enthusiastic DJ’s turntable. There was no nausea, just a giddy warmth that made his mouth buzz and every word out of it something to smile at. Elias also seemed to be enjoying themselves, clinging onto Daniel for dear life as they were ushered back into the protection of Armand’s home. 

 

Daniel plopped them down in the theater, said “Might as well,” and made himself a drink as he called out for Armand. Everything was still fuzzy around the edges as Oskar settled into one of the leather seats, but nothing lit him up quite like brushing his arm accidentally against Elias. They must have felt the same way as both vampires jumped in their seats before recognising who it was they had touched.

 

Oskar wasn’t sure what he said in the moment but he wound up with his head in Elias’ lap, watching  _ Time Bandits _ , as his closest companion stroked at his hair. He only vaguely paid attention to the movie, more interested in the fantastic thoughts that flitted through his head about the vampire who had changed the course of his life, but he could have sworn he heard Armand laughing to the point of tears somewhere in the rows behind him. 

 

Not every challenge or bright moment had to do with Night Island though. Hunting was somewhat familiar to Oskar, considering his past few months in the blood with Elias, but Armand’s lessons were unlike anything he had ever seen and after their debacle with the drunk he became their very dedicated teacher.

 

Oskar enjoyed nights like that because they often meant leaving the island for some place new, some obstacle course devised by Armand while he went missing for a day or two. Challenging tasks like breaking into the compounds of dog fighting rings without being detected to hunting for ‘evil-doers’ by moonlight in the expansive and unforgiving terrain of the Everglades National Park. The relatively ancient vampire took these lessons seriously and never doled out undeserved compliments- like when Oskar botched the take down of a fan boat and sent their dinner careening into a tree. His judgement was cutting with surgical precision, pointing out the hesitation or lack of form. 

 

“You and Elias haven’t been practicing your diving,” he had said coldly as he dragged Oskar from the swamp after his leathery wings got caught in the weeds. “Next time have the courtesy to admit it before I go to these lengths, tracking prey for you.” Elias looked down at him from a perch in a tree, their wings held out to keep balance, with an ‘I told you so’ expression plastered on their face. Oskar apologized then and doubled down on practice, taking turns with Elias throwing life preservers on the choppy sea at night to dive and catch in their claws. Sometimes Armand was there for the practice and would take a night off to make plans or share methods with Oskar and Elias. Chilling discussions of possible highway targets like drifters or easy riders carrying sensitive cargo, how the two of them might use their appearance to their advantage.

 

“You look young enough to make  _ one _ type of target very easy,” Armand began during a quiet table discussion, one where Daniel was present to chime in since he was the expert witness on modern Americans. “Do you understand? Since you cannot read minds you might find evil-doers of a certain breed of no difficulty to lure in.” His expression was aloof and begged them to ask what he meant- or figure it out for themselves.

 

Oskar wasn’t sure entirely what Armand was implying, but he saw Daniel and Elias both pale and grow tense. Armand was referring to something bad, then.

 

“Boss that’s kinda sick,” Daniel added with hesitation, his voice soft and pleading. He did not adopt this tone very often and it set Oskar into a cold panic. “That’s a lot to ask, putting themselves out like that. Killer kids or not, you know- they’re still…” Daniel put out his cigarette and looked to Elias with his bottom lip tucked between his teeth. “What do you think?”

 

Elias’ eyes, which were vividly colored and lively after dinner, darted thoughtfully across the surface of the table as they engauged past memories, present feelings, and maybe delayed gratification. A small, resigned smile came to their face. “I think I’d like to make the very best of what I am,” they said with reserved confidence, as if explaining a small, precious thing they held carefully in cupped hands. Elias' expression and soft voice drew everyone at the table cautiously closer. It was as if they were carefully opening that little chamber in their palm to show a fiercely guarded magic which power was directly tied to its secrecy.

 

Armand nodded solemnly, his gaze drifting for a moment before it returned from a distant time and place. “If you find people who wish to harm you to fulfill some selfish, mortal vacancy…” He rose a clawed hand upwards, twining it through the air, “Fill yourself on them freely.”

 

This conversation, and most others, followed a common thread Armand pulled them along which was that those who were without remorse, empathy, or respect for their short time on earth would be easiest to spot and the least emotionally taxing to kill. Prey that wished they were the indiscriminate killer a vampire was born to be. 

 

“We cannot hold onto moral codes too tightly when it comes to the prey we select, we might draw unwanted attention trying to follow societal rules or harm the innocent to placate the masses.” Armand explained one April night as a tropical storm brewed not too far off the coast. “However, to seek out and kill only those who would be our equal in killing, if they had the ability, may provide you some peace. It is a truth you can discern only in that moment.” 

 

“So… Only those that would kill us if they could, like if we weren’t vampires?” Oskar asked, blinking against the damp ocean breeze that swirled around them on one of Armand’s expansive balconies. “That could be anyone.”

“Come now Oskar, it is obvious when someone wants to harm you, you’re familiar with that.” Armand chided softly, touching the top of his head in a familiar, comforting gesture. “Unless you mean any  _ kind  _ of person could be that way.”

 

Oskar bit at his lip, imagining bullies Elias had laid to waste on his behalf. The crime families Armand had picked off one by one on the mainland. The myriad of murderers of every shape, color, and creed. Mothers, fathers, children. They were all something  _ more _ than killers of equal taste for blood, they were humans as complex as any other, not mindless beasts. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

 

“Killers come in all forms, from every walk of life. We are an example of that, are we not?” Expectation made its way into his features, wanting an answer from Oskar. When were was none he continued with a sigh. “But, I suppose different tastes can’t be avoided. Sometimes I avoid hunting those too similar in appearance to those I have known. We all have our biases.”

 

“What’s one of yours, then? Who do you, uhm, like to… Eat?”

 

Armand took back his hand and leaned heavily onto the balcony railing, humming loud enough for Oskar to hear over the noise of the sea and coming storm. He looked out over the black ocean when he answered, his face devoid of expression.   
  
“I suppose other vampires.” 

 

It was a little difficult to fall asleep that morning, even if he knew he could bite Armand and incapacitate him in an instant. 

 

Armand was a very willing teacher, even if he was cold, and Oskar found the more they spoke about the art of the hunt the more comfortable Armand became around him in general. The next time they went out Oskar was sore from a previous evening of diving, a phenomenon Armand took note of as they all sat together in the branches of a cypress tree. Before, if Armand had anything to say about them, he kept his thoughts to himself or expressed them to Daniel, who in turn shared with Elias and Oskar. That night in the everglades Armand chimed in when Oskar complained of sore muscles, his voice curious instead of condescending.

 

“That’s strange, you’re sore as if your muscles need to recover- is it possible for your kind to work too hard?” His dark brows knit. Was that concern on his face? Oskar was too distracted by this alien expression to speak up and Elias answered. 

 

“We can get sore muscles like anyone else. After all, we do grow,” both Oskar and Armand snapped their attention to Elias at this remarkable bit of information, but neither spoke. Elias turned smoothly to look at them both when there was no sound from them before returning their gaze to the expansive swamp and continuing. “Not by very much, of course. We grow very slowly as we’re awake and when we hibernate for a while we’ll wake up little again. Oskar, you haven’t had to rest yet but I feel it coming soon. Maybe not for very long but you and I will need to sleep and recover.”

 

Elias looked at the fingernails on one clawed hand and picked at the edge between skin and nail bed. “Transforming becomes harder, we lose the drive to eat, then we’ll be tired and…” They snapped. “Out like a light. I don’t know why, really, no one ever explained it. You do feel a lot better after though.”

  
Armand’s concern was panic for a split second, but as soon as he caught sight of Oskar looking at him the expression was gone. “And for how long do you plan on sleeping?”

 

“No plans,” Elias said, their eyes fixing on something in the distance. “But not for very long, not for our kind. No more than two or three months.” 

 

Oskar spotted the motor boat after Elias but sprung first, the soreness in his muscles making him all the more aware of how his moved through each motion. The sting of his arms erupting into wings and the dull ache as his toes lengthened to claws on his way towards the smugglers heightened his sense of urgency, just the drive he needed to swoop down, avoid the driver, and pick off one of the other men. The channel they were traveling through was dangerously narrow and Oskar ran every risk of not being able to avoid the dense trees as he fought with a man three times his size in his hawk-like grip. Zig zagging down the water channel until there was a large break in the tree cover, Oskar beat his leathery wings vigorously to shoot through the opening and soar skywards, granting him the room he needed to whip his victim about. The man screamed in horror as Oskar carried him up and over the everglades, but not for long. Loosening his grip about the man’s upper arms Oskar flung him upwards, watching him spin silently end over end until his ascent slowed at the apex of his arc. Now toppling down towards the earth Oskar keenly watched the man draw closer as he sailed into position, aiming his clawed foot for the man’s skull, hoping to catch him and kill him with a clean break of his neck. 

 

He was so focused on this that he missed Elias coming up from behind at a blistering speed, catching the man far above Oskar’s trajectory and snapping his neck with the sudden change in direction. Oskar smacked his lips at the sight, feeling a little cheated, but Elias wasn’t always so happy to kill and so he smiled with genuine pride at Elias’ prowess. Armand’s ability to seek out those who caused harm had a positive effect on Elias who was prone to long mornings before they fell asleep, pondering the innocent lives they had taken just to keep on living. 

 

“I saw what you were trying to do!” They cried out as they spread their wings and sailed down slowly like a large vulture. “You would’ve been left with nothing but a head, silly!” Gripping the man by his belt and the back of his shirt, Elias carried the limp mortal down to the treetops where Armand joined them not long after. His eyes were wide, engaged. 

 

“Spectacular performance, enjoy your well deserved meal,” he said with restrained amusement, wiping at his own lips. Oskar looked to him and wondered if Armand had finished off the rest of the boat passengers. Catching his gaze Armand smiled in a conspiratory way and then reached out to touch Oskar on the shoulder. “Your practice is showing. Good job.”

 

Oskar felt lighter than air the entire trip home, making loops in the air as he and Elias traded Armand in their grip. When they arrived back Daniel wasn’t in and Oskar wandered around eagerly waiting his return. Daniel had been a fan of watching them practice their dives and he hoped would be pleased about their success. It wasn’t until almost dawn that he heard Daniel return, long after Armand retired to his quarters and Elias had taken a book into the bedroom they shared with Oskar. His steps were slow and exhausted, maybe he had been up the entire day before? Oskar moved from a couch in the sitting room towards Daniel as he walked through the house, used the bathroom, but didn’t say anything until Daniel was in view. The man stopped in the hall after a few steps and leaned heavily against Armand’s door. His back was to Oskar but he could see Daniel’s hand reach for the knob, touching it with the tip of his finger.

 

“Daniel?” Oskar called softly, watching as the mortal man jolt to attention and then slowly turn around. He looked dangerously exhausted and somehow much younger than normal in his frumpled clothes and messy hair, out of sorts and mismanaged. His eyes were puffy and his lips swollen like he had been chewing on them. 

 

“Hey kid, stay up to say good night?” His voice was shrinkwrapped in tears, Oskar felt like he should say something but then Daniel rubbed at his eyes and smiled, looking more like himself and sounding the part. “You don’t have to do that- but come over here then!” Daniel knelt down and opened his arms for a hug as if Oskar was half his actual age but he felt it might comfort Daniel to do so. Wrapping his arms about the mortal he could smell the sea, cigarettes, and mouthwash.

 

“We did the dive today.”   
  
“Oh yeah? How’d you do?”

 

Daniel did not pull back from the hug yet and Oskar’s back was beginning to hurt from bending down so he stretched out his arms to separate from the human, placing his hands on Daniel’s shoulders.

 

“Armand said we did great..!” 

 

“No kidding? We should celebrate tomorrow!”

 

Oskar felt a tinge he’d not expected. Biting his lip he looked to Daniel and said. “Day after, you look tired.” He pat Daniel’s shoulder in a ‘cool’ way, trying to play off an action he didn’t entirely understand himself.  Daniel’s face slackened and his eyes went wide, he looked like he did when he saw Oskar for the first time, that curious face peering out from a crack in the door. Even the glasses were missing. 

 

“Okay then,” he said with a smile, “Day after tomorrow. See you at sunset.”

 

“See you, Daniel.”

 

Oskar left for bed, letting Daniel test the lock in privacy, and crawled into bed next to Elias when he heard Daniel walk towards his own room. 


	7. Staying Up too Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, thanks for being patient! I got busy.  
> Thank you to everyone who reads my scrawling when I need validation, your revisions have helped pave some rough ways with this chapter. ILU

In all their two hundred and some odd years Elias had never seen or experienced excess, not in _any_ _single_ facet of life--Save for the abundance of love between them and Oskar and the suffering they went through as a vampire. But now, now they sure were in the thick of it.

 

There was an abundance of time. So little of the night had to be dedicated to survival and they remembered the feeling of laying around, not having anything to do, as a very rare luxury in both mortal and immortal life. As a child there was always something to be done to keep the family from plunging into starvation, disease, or death. Checking on the shed of curing fish, hunting rats with the family hound, mending clothes. Elias had been a coddled child in many ways, the doted upon youngest in their family and known locally for a face so beautiful they often left markets with many free treats--But even then they were from a poor family in service to the Lord that would eventually steal him away and alter the course of his human life forever. As a young vampire every moment was poisoned with anxiety, wondering first if their maker would dislike them and kill them for not performing as a perfect fledgling, and then upon their escape the constant fear that they would be caught and most _certainly_ killed for their transgressions. Hunger was unavoidable and could be considered a littermate to the beast of burden Fear was; just another creature hunting Elias every night, tracking the fetid blood in their veins.

 

Hunger was a non-issue now in Armand’s company. Hunger was a nagging feeling when they got up and immediately began playing the _DigDug_ electronic machine. Hunger was tamed.

 

That week the game had been imported was the hungriest Elias had been since arriving on Night Island. Daniel had to hunt them down each evening and take them by the wrist back to the safety of their steel plated vampire citadel for a meal of evil-doer blood. One night when Daniel was late and Elias’ hunger a bit more punchy he bit his lip until it bled and taunted Elias with a smear of blood on his index finger.

 

“Remember food?” Daniel asked in the tone of a television salesman. “It’s what you had _before_ video games were invented.” Elias didn’t have to be beckoned after that moment and picked up a bit of precious self control in the presence of so much indulgence.

 

One night Armand had shown what excess did to his kind. Elias had drunk near to bursting once or twice and was feeling sluggish after draining the blood of a mortal probably five times their size, but they were a lightweight compared to Armand. He decimated a den of thieves in seconds once, practically evaporating blood from seven bodies in a flash of supernatural abilities. As they milled about the now silent warehouse Armand sniffed out, one where ten young men had been sorting out the belongings of homes they’d broken into, it was with horror that Elias saw the effect such a glutting had on him. Armand’s marble white skin gradually turned pink, then ruddy red, before blood began to seep from every pore on his face as he tossed the bodies away from the stolen belongings. Oskar looked a bit sick at the sight, probably reminded of the time he had dared Elias to enter his home without an invitation, but it was clear Armand wasn’t in pain.

 

For Oskar and Elias entering a home without permission, without the incantation of ‘Come In’, would violate some sort of arcane law that ruled them like the cycle of night and day. It was a slow but certain death to cross a threshold without consent. Armand did not have to follow such laws, but there he was bloodied and dripping as he rearranged the bodies in a heap. As if to douse the corpses in lighter fluid Armand wiped his hands and face on the clothes of their victims. Blood continued to spurt out from under his fingernails, drip from his hair line, and leak like tears from the wells of his dark eyes. With an impatient grunt he raked his fang across a wrist to make blood spurt violently from the wound like a hole in a water hose, showering the bodies.

  
Oskar looked at Elias with abject horror. It seemed like Armand’s body was a vessel for blood and nothing else, his hard form the permanent dimensions of a glass bottle, certain to spill if overfilled. When they drank too much their stomach distended, they could even _vomit,_ but if cut they bled as sluggishly as any human might. Armand poured blood from his wrist as easily as wine from a bottle and Elias imagined he stopped once the amount of the blood within him matched the limit to its container. Laving his tongue across the wound Armand tugged his jacket sleeve over the swiftly healing cut and then turned in place. He was wearing Daniel’s jacket, maybe on purpose because he pulled out a book of matches and handed them to Oskar.

 

“Take care of them, will you?” He asked, though everyone knew it was a command. Armand wasn’t going to do it because he might burst into flame himself and Oskar, well, he seemed to like this aspect of their hunts. Doing away with the evidence of their crimes.

 

Armand would never have allowed them to call it that, he always preferred to use terms like ‘taking care of our needs’ or more insidiously ‘doing away with evil’, but Oskar had divulged to Elias that there was a certain thrill in doing something so _wrong._ If _DigDug_ was Elias’ little vice then Oskar’s was this private joy.

 

“Your mortal notions are showing,” Armand chided when Elias asked if Armand picked this warehouse and these men for death because he preferred evil-doers. They had wanted to know if justice was his indulgence.

 

“I’ve told you before, it isn’t because I feel better killing them over others, it is tending to the flock. It is the best I can do.” Elias didn’t think he meant that killing was his most worthwhile ability, but they couldn’t really be sure. They also didn’t think he was telling the whole truth. Armand was a bit hard to understand. Spurting blood from every orifice aside.

 

Discoveries like these were much like what they started in Venice, all thanks to excess. Through hunting the vampires became acutely aware of one another’s differences. Armand’s inability to fly or transform wasn’t so bad of a trade if I meant he had the ability to read minds and control people’s actions. After seeing it in person Elias was grateful they were, for whatever reason, unable to be sensed. Armand admitted to sensing them faintly when transformed, but he explained it was little more than a murmur.

 

This phenomenon in particular was both baffling and useful. When they were out hunting usually Elias and Oskar transformed, if even a little bit, and so Armand could roughly track their location as needed. More so than the fuzzy link this granted them Armand’s interest laid in the actual transformation. It took much convincing at first but Elias eventually allowed Armand to tape them within a camera studio he had set up in one of his many recreation rooms, furling and unfurling their webbed bat-like wings as Armand shone lights from the front, from behind, and from all manner of angles. He studied this footage for hours before requesting they do the same with Elias’ hands and feet when Daniel stepped in and chided Armand for his microscopic interest in the smaller blood drinkers.

 

Daniel argued there was much more to be learned from simply being around them than studying. “Can’t see the forest for the trees,” he said, brushing off Armand’s lapels and smoothing down the grain of his velvet dinner jacket when at last he rescued Elias from another night of excruciating investigation. Daniel was often their savior and to his credit he did know them far better than Armand did, but Elias could not shake the feeling he acted on their behalf because of a familiarity with the situation. How many times had the camera been pointed at him?

 

In between the overwhelming modern era and inhuman hunting there were blessedly simple nights spent on the beach as well. The resort transitioned from glittering blue tiled pathways to sandy dunes with large grassy bushes before pouring right into the sea without interruption. A reprieve from all the indulgence, a fast to cleanse the spirit, hours could be spent laying on the sugar-white sands as the tide lapped at the shore. The four of them would go out together around nights with a full moon since Daniel could see much better by it’s light than without. Despite owning an island Armand did not seem interested in getting in the ocean unless accompanied by an expensive toy like his many jet-skis or a motor powered boat. Meanwhile Elias didn’t think they could get enough of the warm, clear water. Even in the night they could see shadows of fish against the shallows’ sands and when they dove beneath the surface their vampiric eyes could watch the moonbeams reach down through the water and glimmer against their skin. There was no limit to their time beneath the waves now that breathing was unnecessary but something about staying down for too long brought on a vague sense of melancholy. Besides, the beaches were so friendly and expansive and still hot after having the Florida sun beat down on it all day it wasn’t such a drag to stay out of the ocean. Armand also warned Eli once about the presence of sharks in the ocean and a rare pang of terror struck them. Of course they could have torn a shark in half from tip to tail, but why risk it?

 

Some nights, without Daniel, would be spent with Armand to practice diving and other aerial maneuvers- but no matter their reason for heading out every night ended with a shower. One night of interest ended their trot along the beach in much the same way. After a short stroll to see how their sand castles from a previous evening had fared Armand was rushing them off, insisting that they shower quickly and then take Daniel out for dinner while they enjoyed the restaurant’s entertainment. Armand had fancy bamboo-walled and pebble-floored stalls set outside for guest on the public parts of island on the opposite shore but, in a fashion now familiar to Elias, the eldest vampire had them using a private bath where no expense was spared. Just off the tiled walkways and behind a hidden door that blended into the building’s facade was a glass, marble, and natural wood bathroom for showering off the beach sand. Walls were made of bright white and grey marble with warm wooden floors. Behind some inconspicuous cabinets with frosted glass doors were storage shelves full of more fluffy towels than any one of them could ever use and, for the first time since arriving, Elias wondered who did all the laundry. Much less folded the towels and put them away.

 

They picked up one to dry off with later, as well as one of the many robes hanging from hooks along the opposite wall, and headed towards the shower stalls. At the end of this long hall of linens there was a sharp turn and another hall that ran back in the same direction. This was where all the showers were. Walls of frosted glass allowed privacy but the inset lighting throughout the stalls meant shadows of bathers could be seen through the haze. There was one rather large and open area for showering with several shower heads pointed inwards towards a couple of drains but Elias had never seen it in us. They might have guessed, like much of Armand and Daniel’s domain, that this bathroom could accommodate a dozen or so guests. However, it was as lonely as the rest of their home.

 

They showered off quickly, rubbing their sandy hands briskly together after showering off most of the grit on their feet. During all this Elias watched Oskar’s shadow moving through the glass in the next stall over. The stilted movements of the shy boy were so clear the glass may as well have been transparent, Elias knew them well. Even in the midst of that terrifyingly indulgent time there was joy to be had in the simple, human companionship they had with him. They were the first to hop out onto the fluffy white rug just outside of the stall, wrapping themselves in a robe and making a knot of their hair by rubbing it furiously with a towel. The others wouldn’t be much longer and they could have left to change on their own but why rush, really? Armand could live if they were a few minutes late, he could live through quite a lot. Besides, the soft and slightly damp towel bunched in their arms, the soothing thoughts of Oskar, and the clinging humidity of the room had their eyelids drooping--Even though they had only been awake for a few hours the idea of a nap before heading to the show was starting to seem very reasonable. They would have a seat and wait for Armand’s urgency to rouse them.

 

After a few minutes the soft noise of Daniel and Armand’s shower went off and yet Oskar had not exited his own, not even his wobbling shadow was visible on the door. Armand’s white arm snaked out from a gap in his door for a robe just as Elias’ reached out to knock at Oskar’s.

No response.

 

Elias restrained their mounting alarm, dark brows knitting as they opened up the stall door just enough to see Oskar curled up on his side, back pressed against the far marble wall, as if he’d slumped against it and fell. Another wave of exhaustion hit Elias once the relief kicked in. Oskar was only sleeping there, caught up in the same instinctual need to rest as Elias.

 

It was only after Daniel had already yelped in panic and dove for Oskar that Elias managed to get the words out, finding it hard to speak when they too were wanting to close their eyes for a wink, but rather like every new phenomenon they shared with the masters of the island it quickly became a point of interest instead of alarm.

 

The dinner show was forgotten now as they all sat, still in their robes, in one of the vast sitting rooms of their villa. Beneath the windows the five stories and open gardens of Night Island glittered, teeming with life and surely a symphony of all the pleasures one could behold there, but silent behind their plate glass cage. This room was corner to corner the whimsical style of Miami’s art deco district with pink and keylime sunbeams erupting behind towering bars of gold, across white canvas accented by multicolored scalloping and smooth circular furniture pieces that kept the eye gliding along it’s pastel journey. Oskar lay sleeping in Daniel’s arms, just a hint too long and lanky to seem entirely comfortable there, but neither one was protesting. Armand sat opposite in a chair that looked a bit like a robin’s egg with its insides scooped out, his fingers steeped at his bottom lip, eyes trained on Elias, who was more comfortable standing and walking around. If they sat down it was only a matter of a few blinks before they’d be out like a light, even in a room as lively and unforgivably lit with neon beams as this one.

 

“For how long do you plan on sleeping?” Armand asked, looking quite different than Elias had ever seen him with his hair damp and clinging still to his face. His skull was small and boyish under all those curls. He could not have been that much older than they were when he was turned, they thought.

 

Unconscious of the reflex Elias hands touched at their own head, running nails against their scalp to arouse their senses through another sleepy spell.

 

“As I’ve said before, I can’t give you a specific. Not for too long I think, though.” Elias looked at the multicolored reflections in Armand’s eyes as they competed with the infernal amber glow of his own. “We may be tired from all the change, we’d only just gotten up when we all met in Venice. Only just…” Yes, after making the journey South and after months of poor kills the two of them had been exhausted and found refuge sleeping beneath the floorboards of a long forgotten farm house not too far in-land from the coast. They woke up ravenous but refreshed and Oskar got to see first hand how much sleep replenished Eli’s youth. Even if they were starving it took several nights before their hair began to grey. By then, in Miami, they had them after even one skipped meal.

 

Daniel’s fingers were laced at Oskar’s shoulder and he leaned back, tugging at this anchor as if to stretch, before he began speaking. “Not like too long though, right? And will you guys need anything?”

 

Elias didn’t really know what to say so they shrugged earnestly. “I don’t know. If I needed anything it never occurred to me when I woke up to prepare for the next time. Some place out of the sunlight is all I can think of. When I sleep that’s all I do, sleep.”

 

Armand had a look on his face like he was scheming almost immediately and they fought to keep from rolling their eyes. Did he ever tire of experimenting? And what exactly did he get out of them anyway? Armand seemed no more or less enlightened to Elias after binging on another mechanical device or the works of an entire poetic movement. Whatever, Elias would let him have their hibernation to test so long as Daniel swore to make sure there was no permanent damage. Seemed a fair trade off, nail clippings and hair samples for some peace and quiet, could they really be bothered?

 

“When do you think it will begin?” Armand murmured, his eyes far off as if he was wondering how quickly he might procure all the necessary implements for a particularly insidious experiment.

 

“Within the week, I’ve never had sleeping spells for longer than a couple of days. Maybe Oskar will go before I do?” They had stopped moving and were beginning to tire just as the other boy began to stir from his nap.  “But there will be one night we don’t wake at all and that will be the beginning of it.”

 

Oskar’s white-blue eyes blinked open after a moment and he took in a sharp breath that caused his dry windpipe to crinkle from disuse.

 

Daniel’s eyes snapped downward and he made a sheepish face. “I hadn’t even noticed you weren’t breathing,” he said quietly, patting Oskar cordially on the chest as he slowly looked around, appeared a bit unsure of how he’d gotten back into the villa.

 

Armand’s steeped fingers covered his lips as he muttered, amused, “That’s because you enjoy snuggling dead things, Daniel. You’re used to it.”

 

“I’m not dead!” Oskar corrected with a defensive whine. “I just don’t need… air when I’m sleeping.” Daniel smiled and chuckled, which Oskar turned back towards to watch. His nose crinkled. “You smell like toothpaste, Daniel.” He smelled like it quite a lot now that Elias thought about it.

 

The mortal’s smile stiffened just a little bit.

 

Once everyone had dried off and changed back into proper clothes Daniel interrupted Elias’ trip out to the arcade for something they had almost completely forgotten about. The tapes from his interview with Louis de Pointe du Lac, another vampire of Armand’s breed. For as precious as these tapes apparently were Daniel tossed them onto the floor of their room haphazardly, rushing back out to find a tape player and Oskar. Elias was almost certain they had one in there already but they didn’t fight Daniel on it. While the mortal rushed about they took quick stock of the bedroom, wondering if they would wake up to it looking differently after their brief hibernation.

 

The room had been modified to fit uniquely vampire needs upon their arrival. Armand said there were no rooms he’d built to protect himself from the sun within the villa and, as it was in Venice upon their first meeting, Armand did not sleep on the premises that he owned. Steel shutters on the windows automatically closed at first light, triggered by a UV sensitive panel or by a certain time of day should cloud cover be an issue. The interior door wasn’t as pertinent, to Armand the real security issue was the villa itself, and there was enough steel and rebar at its access points that any intruder would have an easier time peeling the roof off than entering from the ground floor. The room had been spartan at first with two beds, a large empty closet, inset bookshelves, and a writing desk with pens and a leather bound notebook for the each of them. Their trunk had been placed at the foot of Elias’ bed and it stuck out against the sterile light grey and white room with brazen shabbiness. Their first morning the two of them pushed their beds together, Elias not wanting to get used to the feeling of sleeping alone, and as soon as Armand saw this he simply replaced their twin beds with a ridiculously oversized ‘California King’.

 

Why they needed the absolute largest available mattress Elias did not question, but even Daniel remarked it was larger than what he slept in. Elias had very quickly learned not to question Armand’s decisions when it came to the material, it all concerned Elias very little after all. No need to split hairs about sleeping arrangements so long as Oskar was there.

 

And Oskar was now everywhere, his touch plastered all over the walls, shelves, and in the clothes they wore.

 

The skant belongings from their trunk leaked out over the course of a few evenings but when Oskar began venturing out into Night Island with earnest the room transformed. The bookcases filled with records and tapes, puzzles and potted plants Elias would put on the balcony before dawn. Oskar had Elias listen to music for hours on end and when something really got their heart pounding he insisted they dash out for a poster or shirt, like setting up a shrine and pledging their allegiance to the image and message of the music. It didn’t make much sense to Elias at first, but quickly a new context blossomed between them that neither had the chance to experience before. They could talk about one another’s thoughts, how they felt about music or movies, and through that they began talking more actively about the world around them. What one lyric said to the other, how that compared to Elias’ take, it all fed into chatting about their new companions. What had it meant when Daniel did or said that? When Armand left the night before how did he seem to be feeling? The ability to compare one night to the next born out of whether or not KISS’ latest album shred like the last.

 

This meant that when Daniel returned with a tape player and Oskar in tow Elias knew there was a conversation waiting to wind out of the both of them. It seemed in all their weeks of adjusting to Night Island they had almost forgotten what had drawn them there in the first place, the first contact between Daniel and Louis, and what his tale meant to Elias and Oskar.

 

Elias didn’t think it was poor timing to listen to his soothing, drawling voice when hibernation loomed in the coming days, maybe after they woke up deeper understanding would rise with them, and the timbre of his voice reminded Elias of stories before bed. Of course the subject matter could not be further from a fairy tale.

 

The next night Elias and Oskar slowly rose from their slumber and barely had the energy to do more than click on the tape player and listen to Louis describe the night his maker’s mortal father died. The tale wound on and as they lay there in quiet contemplation there came a point when Oskar sat up and turned the tape player off.

 

“Why are… They both so miserable? They can do what we can’t and still manage to be sad.” Eli knew Oskar had a sort of reverence for the killing instinct of beings like Armand and Lestat, even if it wasn’t terribly strong in himself, so they weren’t surprised he was disappointed by Louis’ apprehension. Guilt haunted Oskar just as much as Eli, try as he might to hide it from them.

 

Elias didn’t have an answer to the specifics so they tried for a broader answer. “Maybe that’s how it is for everyone, no matter what they are. No matter if Louis loved to kill, maybe he is a little sad all the time. Lestat too.”

 

Oskar turned to Elias, who now realized they felt out of place sprawled out while Oskar sat hunched over and looking somewhat forlorn. “What about you? Are you a little sad all the time?”

 

“No, I’m happy most of the time, I think. But,” they sat up and mirrored Oskar, knees almost touching on the bed, and continued. “But I think I’m sad when I am so that I get to… Win happiness.” Yes, like playing a game. There were rules, obstacles, but a goal to achieve.

 

Oskar frowned. “But you _are_ happy, aren’t you?”

 

A brow raised out of reflex. “Aren’t **_you_ ** , Oskar?” Why was he pressing so much?

 

“Yes.” He answered immediately, his eyes keyed on their’s.

 

Elias felt their lips twitch now, their face un-gluing under Oskar’s gaze. “Is it because of… me?” Oskar gave a little nod. They realized the real reason Oskar asked them if they were happy then.

 

“You make me happy, too, Oskar. In my whole life I’ve never been felt like this--And it’s not because of the island, either.” That needed to be said. Useful as all this had been they were no more or less in love with Oskar because of it.

 

Oskar took in a deep breath and sighed with such transparent relief that Elias had to laugh. “Oskar! Come on, was it really not obvious?”

 

He was stuttering even before he spoke, pointing an accusatory finger to the silenced tapes as his mouth flapped a few times before words came out. “It’s because of them! Lestat seems so happy while Louis is flat miserable, how couldn’t he see, you know? I just didn’t want to think it was only me who felt like this.”

 

Fair enough. Elias sighed and gave a little shake of their head before looking about the room. “We’re going to be in here for a couple of months, let’s go flying and wear ourselves out a bit.” They slipped from the bed and felt so tired. Maybe this was their last night for a while. “Mr. Louis can wait.” They both gathered up the tapes, set them on the impossibly cluttered writing desk, and went out to stretch their wings over the open ocean.

 

* * *

 

 

As soon as Armand heard Louis’ voice crooning from those blasted tapes he was focused on getting them out of Elias and Oskar’s hands. Was he being difficult, trying to keep them from hearing Louis’ account of his bygone Parisian nights? He didn’t care one fucking ounce if those kids were terrified to learn about what he’d done to Claudia, to the mortal boy Denis. If anything maybe they’d learn to leave on their own before a repeat performance. Wouldn’t that be nice?

 

Would it?

 

Armand tried to focus on the moment and shut off his feelings on whether or not the others knowing his past mattered. Whether or not he cared about how they felt, if they would detest him or fear him, write him off. He settled eventually on the fact that Daniel would be crushed if they left and thus it was better to leave the past in the past. Once he heard them on the beach and far from knowing what he was up to Armand entered their bedroom and beelined for the writing desk, it was where all their clumsy experiments lived like half finished comic books or tacky childish crafts, the tapes would be waiting for him. He moved with vampiric efficiency from the bedroom to his own office, but Daniel caught a flash of him in the act and immediately assumed he was moving quickly to hide something.

 

The suspicion mounted when Daniel called and Armand didn’t answer, annoyed he would have to explain that, no, Daniel, he was not trying to be sneaky, and within a few moments Daniel trotted into the room and came right to him.

 

“Hey knock it off Armand!” He fussed, trying to wrestle the small box from Armand’s hands. “I told them to listen, alright? Let them listen.”

 

Armand held the cardboard box tightly but not enough for it to rip, he didn’t yank it away from Daniel’s reach, it felt more biting to show Daniel he didn’t have to resort to such tactics. “Listen to all of it, Daniel? Is that really necessary?” When his mortal lover yanked again Armand let go and suppressed the urge to sneer as Daniel doubled back and let the box collide with his chest, sending tapes everywhere. Violet eyes flashed maliciously but without a word Daniel got on his knees and began snatching the plastic cassettes up, letting them clatter together as he furiously dropped them in the box.

 

“What’s the matter?” Daniel asked as if he wasn’t the one who had escalated the situation, “Can’t handle them knowing about you? They can just read the book Armand, I know you think they’re stupid but they _can_ read.” While he still picking up Armand stepped closer, silently, and began to kick the ones still on the floor about, watching with a cold expression as Daniel scrambled about chasing after them. “Stop it, you complete and utter child, I’ll just tell them myself if I have to!”

 

Armand snorted. “Have to? Some duty you’re fulfilling, airing my dirty laundry to children.” He crossed his arms and let Daniel finish grabbing the last tape. The anger radiating off Daniel had been sorely missed. They had not traveled in the weeks since they returned, he hadn’t taken Daniel on any sexual expeditions with the local flair, and they hadn’t fought like that in so long that Armand relaxed into it like a warm bath.

 

“They aren’t children, ok--You should know, you take them out to hunt human beings.” Daniel had a good point but there was a sentimental tone to his voice and it was the scaffolding that Armand built Daniel’s ruin

 

“You’re right Daniel, they’re not children- But, would you rather be taking them to Little League anyway?” He gave a tiny tilt of his head and watched as Daniel froze where he was. “Are you wishing you’d made some of your own, then? Don’t resent the precious devils for not being human, much less children. No reason you can’t run off and make some of your own." Daniel's head slowly turned up towards him, pleading silently for Armand to stop and yet making it too easy to resist. "For all you know, Daniel, you might even have a few out there already.”

 

Daniel looked more disgusted and horrified by Armand then than he ever had. Every night he could remember where Armand had refused him a condom flash quickly through his mind. Armand could almost feel his own stomach flip sympathetically. “What the fuck are you talking about?" Daniel hissed as if he'd just been jabbed with a needle.  "Do I want kids- Armand, I’m the last person--!”  


“Then why are you acting like they need you? They don’t.” _Not children._ He sent the vision briefly of those bloody maws somewhere out in the Everglades, bent over a broken body they impaled on tree branches to feed from like shrikes. “You need them, but it’s not enough that I’ve let you play with more dead things, is it?”

 

Daniel was livid from Armand’s infectious words. The fantasies continued and Armand greedily lapped at them. Daniel wondering what his life might be like with a human child to care for. What nightmare a child’s life would be if he were their father. “They aren’t dead,” he said in a shaking, wounded tone that made him sound just like he did on those tapes, the fresh mortal boy so ready for the truth to harm him.

 

“No, but they’re dead enough for you.” Armand’s gift penetrated Daniel’s mind in an instant, the heat-seaking pits of his viper strike tasting for the fantasy he wanted least to share. Daniel, aloft with the two of them, sailing over infinite sky and sea. “Oh but you would be _their_ child? Is that--”

 

And then Daniel sprung up, tears prickling in his eyes, as he grabbed for Armand’s throat and began to shake him with all the repressed ferocity of the last several weeks focused between palms and digging fingertips. He grit his teeth and hissed, alcohol burning in the small space between them. Armand had absolutely nothing to fear at all, of course, and while he let Daniel vent this hurt in the physical he did not abate him in any other way. Daniel was whispering now, pleading.

 

“Shut up, shut up _please._ ” _Of all the ways to cut him did it have to be like that?_ His lips pursed to hold back all the thoughts he so plainly broadcasted and even though tears began to fall freely his grip did not let up. Daniel held him in place and shook him with each word as a punctuation. “Stop it. Stop. It. Please.” _Let me have this facsimile, you’ve ruined everything for me but you and the Blood and dead little middle schoolers, let me have this if you won’t give me what I want._

 

Armand reached up and pet Daniel’s face once or twice before giving it a restrained, non-lethal slap. The alternative could have been so easy.

 

“Pull yourself together Molloy. They may listen to Louis for as long as they can stand to. Which I doubt will long at all. They’re not quite at the age where one _enjoys_ brooding for hours upon hours in gleeful misery.”

 

Daniel was suffering from the tonal whiplash, completely blanched and shaking from their flash in the pan of a fight, but it was nothing a bit of the Blood wouldn’t smooth over. _Bend to me, Lover._ Armand softened his expression immediately, saw how he appeared as Daniel’s beloved Devil, and bit his tongue to share in their kiss. There it was, the familiar song and dance. Just like old times, before the kids came around.

 

Daniel pulled back when the cut healed, shaking from the pleasure that Blood and the post-fight adrenaline gave. “It’s been too long,” he sighed, almost panting.

 

“I thought you said you were going to control yourself,” Armand murmured, reminding Daniel of what he’d said in Venice, how he didn’t want to screw up anything.

 

Annoyance, playful and avoiding. “I’m not fucking perfect, ok.” His voice was artificially gruff and it made Armand smile. “No one is, much less when they turn into parents, right? I’m a bit on edge thinking about them sleeping for so long, you know, just a little worried about our kids...” He looked beseechingly at Armand and God did it take effort not to roll his eyes.

 

_So you do like playing house?_

 

Daniel said nothing in response to this transmitted message but the Blood had his skin crawling and wanting to leave the room for his own, taking Armand with him. Armand didn’t sigh, but he let himself fold physically with a slight nod. “Let’s try to play Mom and Dad, then.”

 

Daniel went a little pink, Armand felt his Blood in the boy racing about with aroused senses. “Know what you want to try out first?”

 

Armand could think of a few things. He put the tapes back where he found them and was privately amused that, whether or not they knew, Elias and Oskar managed to stay out of the house long enough for he and Daniel to blow off a little steam.

 

The next night, which Armand realized only the night after, was the first day of Elias and Oskar’s hibernation. They hadn’t eaten in a few days and looked quite ashen and wane as they laid there in bed together, still as death and wearing matching Van Halen shirts. Daniel sat beside them that first night, waiting for them to wake and tend to any needs they might have, but neither stirred. One glance was all Armand required at first, just the confirmation they had not moved in hours, then days, but before too long he was lingering in the door. That presence was there, he realized, more faint than ever before but the very same he felt when they were transformed. For the first time in months he and Daniel did some traveling, New York for a night or two, then Cairo on a whim, but upon each return the both of them would go to the room where Elias and Oskar slept and check from the door that they were still there. Things more or less went back to how they were before the strange duo grafted themselves upon their lives, but now the absence of Eli and Oskar was just as present as they had been.

 

The parties returned, the shows and gadgets, the nights out with Daniel sharing blood on a street corner, but it all felt juvenile in a way. Armand didn’t feel the same satisfaction from it all, as if the world had gone pale, and his only joy once more lay in the basic act of killing. He went to taking two or three lives in excess a night to stave off the numbness he felt when anywhere but at Night Island making plans with Daniel for when Elias and Oskar woke up. That had returned to him; the pleasure of preparing and he felt like he had during the extensive research for Night island.

 

It was clear neither one of them picked up knowledge like he did so tutors would need to be brought in to teach them the things Armand did not want to. As much fun as it had been to let them run wild around the island he saw virtue in teaching them a bit of table manners, especially if they carried out the plan to travel the globe together. They would need to know a few basic lines in a handful of languages, as well as history for a more indepth appreciation of their travels. Oskar had shared in his visions of the past what little he felt for the other countries he learned of when he believed he might never see them. To educate the boy all Armand needed to do was make those worlds real to him. Yes, so simple, and the idea of this plan coming to fruition was as thrilling as the feeling that blueprints might become halls he would walk through.  

 

Leave it to Daniel, of course, to talk a bit of sense into this plan.

 

“You think they want all this?” He asked as they compared five World Art tutors and professors across sheets Daniel had written up himself. “I kinda think they just wanna drink blood and go to Disney World.”

 

Armand’s lips pursed with annoyance, how dare Daniel think this was all only for them, but he did concede a little bit. “No, probably not, but if I have one regret in life it is that I neglected my own studies when I had the chance.”

 

_Only one regret? That’s rich._

 

Armand pinched his thigh under the table and smiled as Daniel jolted in his seat and then slapped at his hand before gathering it in his hand and kissing his rings with reverence. “I guess me too. Kinda wish I’d paid more attention in Literature when we were reading Bram Stoker.”

 

That morning Daniel crawled off to his bed well before sunrise, the prospect of scheduling lessons nearly enough to put him into a hibernated state too, but before leaving Armand went to the door of Elias and Oskar’s room to check on them before leaving. The windows were shuttered night and day to keep from fussing with the balcony and so not even moonlight brightened the room. Seeing perfectly well in the dark Armand approached the bed and was surprised to see that the both of them looked… refreshed. Plump, pink, and mortal. Peach fuzz he had not noticed was absent before now softened their jaws and the bright red of surface vessels under pale skin bloomed across Oskar’s eyelids. They were living death.

 

Entranced he drew closer and sat upon the bed where Daniel had taken first watch months prior. September was a week away and they had not stirred an inch. The presence was stronger now that he was nearly on top of them and for the first time its purpose became distinct. It wasn’t merely a means to transform, a threatening aura that warded off predators, or the force that kept them from entering without permission, it was _nourishment._ It pulsed softly with the impossibly slow beat of their hearts and Armand could sense how the wave traveled up and down their bodies, restoring them both to the state they had been in at first contact with whatever it was that made them creatures of the night.

 

Armand’s brow furrowed and he leaned over the smaller bodies, arms planted on either side, before pressing his ear against Elias’ chest. Beneath their ribs their heart tossed in its sleep, the pulse ebbing out, and along with it a vision. Armand didn’t recognize the sensation at first because he had not expected it, but with a jolt he sat up and felt the words fall into place. Elias’ heart was _dreaming_. Armand tilted his head this way and that, not understanding how it was possible for a heart to dream, but when his Mind Gift tentatively probed there the unmistakable connection between one mind and another was made anyway. How?

 

Brain tissue, like a weed growing out of the cracks in a sidewalk, had taken root in the vampire’s heart. His gift touched ends with this webbing of neurons and receptors in a delightfully electric dance that urged him to venture deeper. He placed a hand over his own heart, leaned back from Elias’ chest to look at their sleeping, serious face and wondered why one mind was open to him while the other was not. Did _he_ need permission for the brain up top? Which one was really driving, too? Which one was Eli?

 

Resting his head against Elias once more Armand plunged further into the mysterious homunculus growing within his charge. It held memories and gave commands, as far as Armand could tell, but what had captured him was the dream and that was where he dug deeper.

 

He saw into Elias’ heart as if peering out of a fishbowl, only he was the one swimming through the vision. The inside-out perception was nauseating at first but eventually Armand got his bearings and was able to navigate clear enough to see. All around him was the laughter of a glittering, sunlit stream and the unmistakable cold of a glacial river. Along the edges of his vision whirled a frame of green grass and spring flowers which shifted in and out of focus as he tried to turn his head about. In doing so he caught sight of an arm and a leg, beneath him and somehow above, reaching out from behind his field of vision like towering structures as crystal clear water ran along their edges. Armand swirled about, nausea and excitement mixing into painful anticipation as Elias’ full body came into view. The closer he tried to get the smaller they appeared and the wider the river became, almost engulfing his vision completely. Armand swam about once more until he settled on a view clear enough to behold and then centered his mind as best he could to keep from spinning away.

 

With his eyes on Elias the _feeling_ of the dream bloomed within him as strong a sense as the crisp water and spring air had been. To be at peace, to be clean and _whole_ once more. The tart pleasure of hoping for the impossible filled him to the brim. The closer Armand paid attention to the feelings of the vision the clearer the picture became. Elias shivered in the water, their lips were blue with the cold, but they smiled through the discomfort and laid their hands modestly over themselves. Sometimes the stream washed over their face and little bubbles left their nose and traveled down over their body. The more he watched this constant scene the more he realized it wasn’t like any other dream he had experienced before. It felt much more like an ideal come to life or the most literal of Elias’ desires laid bare. The pulse from their heart cause the vision to distort all around Armand but he held fast. It was a dream of the heart, the purpose that guided them, and the humanity holding a revenant at bay. Armand’s stomach lurched as he pulled his consciousness out of the other’s beating heart and, as the images of the dream settled into his waking mind, Armand sorted out what he had seen into words.

 

“You want to be pure again?” He asked softly, carding fingers through Elias’ dark hair. “Or, maybe, you want to atone for what you’ve had to do to survive.” Armand’s hand trailed over a clammy cheek before running down their neck and chest, palm resting over their tell-tale heart. No matter the pain involved in such a stringent process they wanted to be born again and to do things right from the onset. The burn of ice cold water. The protective hands, covering. This all twisted some long embedded knife in Armand and a shadow of sympathy for Elias passed over him before his attention turned to Oskar.

 

He repeated the process, hands bracing him against the bed as he leaned in closely and dived into Oskar’s beating heart. The dream was stronger and pulled Armand deeper and deeper as he opened his mind to the vision and tried to make heads or tails of his whereabouts. The fishbowl was tumbling and little more than a rush of black and red clouds that whirled about faster and faster the deeper he went. The clouds turned from mist into fluid of dark red and Armand became steadily aware of its temperature and viscosity. There was no mistaking the blood now as his distorted vision bobbed around at the mercy of its flow. The nausea affecting him before was nothing like what ate at him within Oskar’s vision. Sickened and starved, his stomach clamped down painfully on itself as a hunger unlike any he had ever experienced before brought him finally to the deepest part of Oskar’s dream. The blood still flowed thickly all around him but there was something solid within it, altering the surface and direction of the blood as it moved about this form. Base instinct drove him and he collided with the figures in the blood, knowing instantly their bodies when he passed all around them with his spherical perception.

 

Oskar and Elias were locked about one another, twisted impossibly about like a knot of flesh and bone, their jaws clamped tightly to the other’s neck. The figures appeared and then slowly ebbed away, forming from the blood into two embracing bodies before they were swept up by the rush once more, only to reappear out of the blood like a mirage. Armand lost himself completely in this vision, entering the blood only to be swallowed up between the two vampires, consumed and caught in the ouroboros between them before they once more melted away. He passed from Oskar to Eli and back in several loops and only when his hunger roared at him again did he snap from the dream and escape Oskar’s jaws completely. He pulled back and felt the blood sweat at his brow and pouring down his back, but before he could get up from the bed the dawn had come and he collapsed.

 

When he awoke the following night he was in the same place with Daniel standing guard at the bedside.

“I’ve never seen you during the day before, you know.” He said with a slurred start when Armand rose from the bed on shivering arms. “Not even once, jus’in videos.” Daniel pointed with the hand that held his glass of whiskey. Whatever happened to control? His eyes were bloodshot and wet, a box of empty cigarettes was crammed in his front shirt pocket, but his leg bounced with unmistakable nerves.

 

Oh, Daniel.

 

He continued. “What happened, what were you doin’ laying there with’em?” The alcohol dulled his anxiety, Armand saw his track marks in the carpet where he had paced over and over in a complete panic at the sight of Armand face down in the bed with Oskar and Elias, blood crusted on the sheets under his palms and along his neckline as if sweating out a fever. That pain Daniel went through didn’t matter to Armand any more than the pain of a stranger did because, in that moment, he had the answers, powers, and the means by which to soothe Daniel as if it had never happened.

 

“We dreamed, Daniel. Together. Now,” he slipped from the bed and stroked his hands through his lover’s hair. “Allow me to explain.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will continue monthly or so. Maybe when I've written all of it I will republish as one long fan fic but little chunks is fine. Please no messages about your Elias gender head canon, I'm writing my own and sincerely doubt you will sway my own perception and experiences enough to alter how I've written him.


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